Poké Wars: A Hard Road To Follow
by NobodiesHiiro
Summary: We will no longer be the hunted. The wilds think they have inherited this planet, they think Ho-Oh's will is absolute. Hah no, humans are like cockroaches. We don't stop, we adapt. We don't quit, we get angry. We aren't hunted, we are the hunters. Sequel
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I don't own Pokemon. Doesn't mean I don't wish I did, but I'm not that fortunate.

An: Alright! Here we go. I would have had this up sooner , but my computer decided to take a dump, and ate the original draft and a bunch of other stuff. Hah, that's life I guess. Anyway, away we go. 

Aug30 midday 

~{x}~{x}~{x}~ 

I buried my mother three days ago. The thought slides into my head like poison. Three days ago I buried my mother in the gutted remains of my home town, the places of my childhood lain open like a bloated corpse before a murder of Murkrow.

The dark thought make me want to scream at the world. To rant at the unfairness, the craziness of it all. Sometimes I still wake up at night disoriented, leaning against the familiar form of Scruffy – My ever faithful Arcanine. A gentle light and heat being cast by Bic – my Charmeleon, and with Lu' – My Lucario sitting at calm watch and wonder if it hadn't all been a nightmare, just a horrible dream and I'll be able to call my mother and tell her I'm coming home, tell her everything I never did, never got the chance to, so sure that we had time, and then it all comes back. The death, the pain, the loss. It's all I can do to keep from screaming, as silent tears slide down my face.

Being careful, it took Scruffy One and a half days to reach Viridian city. We were watchful for the flock of Fearow that had hit Pallet, but we never saw them or any evidence that they were still around.

One and a half days ago, I'd left my home town. Put away childish things and swore myself to a new future. I took up my ancestral blade and swore to use it as it was intended and right as many wrongs as I could. On that steel I swore that no one else would go through what I did, as long as there was still breath in my body. I shake my head to focus on the now.

The midday sun is crossing over head. Halfway through its daily journey through the sky. Bird Pokemon sing in the distance, a low melodious noise. That, I'm sure I found beautiful once, what seems like a lifetime ago, but that now only serves to set my teeth on edge, and make me grasp the hilt of my blade to steady myself. I've seen the desolation that a songbird can deal. The city looks abandoned. It's as desolate as I expected. At this point I know better than to hope for people to be living.

I've seen a lot the last couple of weeks. People eaten alive by Tentacool, a town reduced to ashes and an army of poisonous spiders followed by the death of my friends and family, had to face a siege by Zubats and their line, been tortured by ghost types and faced a town full of corpses left to rot where they fell. Even yet, the smell of dozens of rotting – half eaten corpses, I sigh wearily. It still gets to me. My lip pulls up in distaste, as I think: I wonder if there will come a time when this stink is so common place it no longer bothers me?

On that day. When the smell of the dead no longer bother me. Will I be any better than the ones that killed them? I shake my head violently side to side banishing the dark thought from my head. Letting the tock, tock of the bones at my back firm my resolve as I grasp Arcanine's – Scruffy's fur tighter so I don't slide off his back and order him further into the city.

The only sound the wind, and the breathing of my Pokemon beneath me as we continue towards our first destination. 

~{x}~{x}~{x}~ 

The Pokemon center looms over me as we approach at an easy gait, my mounts claws clicking against the stone of the road with every step. Casting a shadow all around itself in the noon time sun, the center is a sight to see, I'm almost too warm in my multiple layers but the world makes me wary of removing the heavy riot gear I'd picked up during my time with Falkner and his bunch.

Thinking of them sends a pang through my chest, and makes my gut clench in repressed shame and nausea. I'd abandoned them for nothing. My mother was already dead. What about the people of Cherrygrove? They'll be overrun, barely any trainers among them, hardly a man or women between the age of fifteen and fifty in their little town, and for what!? For what? So I could bury my mother? Reclaim my families sword!? A couple of towns full of people for that. I sigh, and bow to the weight of the world for a moment, Scruffy whines beneath me, as he begins picking up on my discomfort, before I grit my teeth and force myself upright to dismount.

It's just another tally against my soul. For my selfishness, for the people I abandoned and left behind. I'll fight for the future of mankind, and all those that will live with them in peace until my end.

As before, the smell tells me enough. No survivors. The shadow of the building makes the darkness inside the center seem especially bleak as I release Bic, and Lu', they look around curiously. Bic's nose curls up in distaste as he whips his tail around him, heating the already hot air to a stifling degree and setting the air around him to shimmering. Lu stands next to me stalwart and ready, his body a taught string just waiting to snap. I sigh, bone weary, but it no longer shakes my resolve and my gaze sharpens as we continue on into the Pokemon center.

I keep a hand lightly resting on the hilt of my ancestral sword as I step through the shattered glass doors of the center. Bodies litter the floor in varying states of destruction but the blood stains don't quite match the positioning of the bodies. They'd been moved perhaps? I turn to my allies and pose a question.

"What do you guys think?' The answers I receive are about what I expected. Scruffy whines, making me look to him. He's turning his nose away from the corpses, tail tucked down, looking for all the world like he wanted nothing more than to wait outside. I sigh at myself for once again forgetting his nose, rubbing a gloved hand over his muzzle before recalling him. Good boy I think, before turning back to the others.

Bic has his body held low near the corpse of a young man. Probably just old enough to have gotten his training license, he drops his snout low over the body as he draws a deep breath in seeming to mutter to himself for a moment before turning towards Lu' and barking out a terse bout of pokespeak. Lu' looks up for a moment. Well he doesn't actually look, so much as he raises his head in Bic's direction. He'd lost his eyes in the same battle three of our other friends had died. I gained a jagged five inch long scar across my forehead that is a constant reminder of the fact. I covered it with a bit of cloth from my dead mothers apron, he'd done the same with his eyes. I would never let myself forget the loss, or my failures.

He(Lu') cocks his head in my direction for a moment as the dark thoughts flood my mind but turns back to Bic when an annoyed growl echoes across the lobby and its glass and body covered floor. His reply is soft but no less firm for it as he gestures to something on the floor.

Footprints. What he found was footprints in the dried pools of blood on the floor, places where people had stepped flaking away and cracking. People had been here. Living people. That made me want to laugh in joy.

After seeing this place, after seeing my home. I hadn't held much hope that there would be any survivors moving from town to town like I was, I'd never done much in the way of competition, or tournaments. So I wasn't very widely known as a trainer. However, I'd payed off the debts of my father while keeping the bills back home paid and kept myself, my mother and six Pokemon fed while traveling constantly around Kanto and Johto. All of that funded by pokebattling. To make something like that pay the bills you had to do it a lot. I liked to think it showed in my Pokemon.

By my estimate I'd say three. It was hard to tell and I'm no tracker but there seemed to be three distinct sets of footprints. I voiced this aloud, Lu' nodded his head in what I took for agreement giving me thumbs up before gesturing towards the outdoors and making a gesture I took to mean as: more out there, but he was unsure as to how many. Bic shrugged, sniffing around a bit more before turning his head up in the way that told me he was done with what we were doing. Whatever had done this was long gone, and whoever had been here was as well.

I continued looking around the center for supplies but it looked like whoever had been here before did a good job of clearing the place out, as there wasn't much to speak of, and nothing I deemed worth the added weight to carry. There wasn't time to bury the dead. Not when every second spent doing that was one I could spend trying to save someone else, we did move them into more respectful positions lining them up in the lobby in rows of five, covering the body with clean white sheets I'd found in the back, it looked little better. However it was important for me to do. To hold on to the small pieces of humanity I have left. Even if in the future I had to spend those pieces of myself to buy others survival, for now I would indulge them. He who fights monsters should see to it that he himself does not become a monster, after all. 

~{x}~{x}~{x}~ 

As I step back outside the oppressive atmosphere of the center seems to stretch out and bleed into the rest of the town, the sun has moved across the sky, causing the building to cast long shadows, like the finger of some beast forgotten to time, reaching out to retake the world. Bic ambles out of the center in a huff whipping his tail around himself to raise the temperature, hiding his sadness with gruff irritation, but I know him too well for that. Lu' is already with me, his fist clenched at his side as his sightless eyes sweep over the horizon.

"Threats?' I question, voice rough near hoarse from the screaming and crying from the days before. He raises his head to 'look' at me though, cocking an ear to the town as he does so, before shaking his head to the negative. No threats.

"Bic?' I glance over at my first companion to confirm, but he just shrugs, before taking a quick sniff of the air. He waves a hand in front of his mouth, before shaking his head. No threats.

Bic and Lu' share a long look, exchanging no words with each other, just a look of relief and weary resolve, Lu' shoots Bic a thumbs up, making Bic scoff, and I can't help but smile.

What a brilliant bunch of conversationalist we are. I think wryly, chuckling softly to myself, feeling a little bad a moment later for being able to still do so. I shake that off though, as I start walking into the city, my Pokemon on either side of me.

We need supplies, or I'd never consider doing what I was about to do. Taking things from the dead was not something I did lightly. I stopped out front of the first residence we came across, my monster's drawing up behind me silently. Waiting. With a tired sigh, I step forward, hesitation is the enemy. I swear I could nearly hear my sword hum in time with the thought. The stress was getting to me.

The door was locked when I got hold of the door knob, the owners must not have been home when the shit hit the fan. Or, at least, I hoped not.

"Lu'," I start, noticing him once again eying my sword. It was somewhat strange how he kept doing that, but I guess I could understand, he'd not seen me use it often in the before time. "get the door.' He nods, with a thumbs up, before blowing the door open with a well placed kick.

I give him a smile as I walk by. Laying a hand between his ears for a second as I step forward into the foyer.

The place was near pristine, maybe a tad dusty but not ruined like most places. It has an open floor plan, the kitchen only separated from the front room by a short bar. My boots leave mud on the once pristine tiled floor as I walk further in, Bic's claws click as he walks across it, the normally deadly weapons not providing him much traction.

I can't help but wonder why this place was affected so little, when it hits me I stumble a little. "No meat.' I whisper out cynically, my upper lip curling back away from my teeth in distaste. Lu' looks at me again, the same way he did in the center as the thoughts circle in my mind. Bic nods as if he'd come to the same conclusion.

A few days ago this realization probably would have infuriated me, but times had changed, and now it just made me sigh, and move further into the house.

I head for the kitchen first, the power was out, had been for a while judging from the faint smells coming from the closed fridge. I wasn't eager to open it. The cabinets yield better results. Dried foods are good, I shove a little bit of everything in my bag. Taking only the lightest most filling foods. Dried meat, breakfast bars and the like. A few water bottles find their way into my bag as well.

Bic gives it all a vaguely contemptuous look, getting a somewhat hungry look in his eyes as he looks towards an outside window, before shaking his head and returning to normal. I could have swore I'd heard him grumble something about meat, but I must've been imagining it.

I pull Scruffy's ball from my belt in the kitchen as I up end a fifty pound bag of feed onto the floor, he goes to town almost as soon as he's loose. He seems to be doing better than before the air is much cleaner in the house, if not a tad stale.

Lu' tears the top off of a box of poke'food, eating it as we leave the kitchen and check out the rest of the house. I'm not overly cautious. Trusting Lu' to sense anything before it gets the drop on us. Two bedrooms and a bathroom, all empty, no signs of anything living there for a while. Nothing else strikes me as useful as we traverse the rest of the house. The clothes are useless to me. As they were for a small child, and a small women. I was neither. I grin a little at my joke and head back outdoors. 

~{x}~{x}~{x}~ 

We got a pretty good haul from the first place, and I don't feel like risking another house. No point in getting greedy. Especially when I still have to carry it all. The day was starting to get along anyway, the sun would be setting in the next two, maybe three hours, I think while glancing up at the sun. It was time to move along. I return Bic and Lu' before swinging up onto Scruffy never giving the town a second glance, I need to look towards the future. Hesitation is the enemy.

We approach the northern edge of town at a quick gait, not quite full out, but quick enough the wind pulls at me as I ride. The wind is at our backs and everything seems to be looking up. So of course it would be now that something would go wrong. The wind blows back to the south for only an instant, there's a strange sweet scent in the air, I can't place; but it stops Scruffy cold, his feet skid across the ground as he goes from a run to a dead stop in an instant. Nearly throwing me from his back. Still, my chest is laying on the top of his head.

"What?' I mutter with a grunt, as I drag myself back into a proper seated position, and not hanging over his head ready to fall. I try to urge him on, patting his head, rubbing his sides, even spurring his flank lightly. Nothing. He just whines, head down, shaking it when I order him forward. Whatever that smell was, it scared him badly.

"Alright, plan B then.' I tell him in exasperation. Deciding to trust my Pokemon. I order him to turn by pulling his fur to the east.

I'd been planning on following the routes, to see if any other survivors had done the same. My reasoning being likely survivors won't have headed out into the woods, wild Pokemon are beyond the kin of most people, especially those without Pokemon of their own. Plan B is Celadon. It's a large population center, with a large source of supply, if I'm going to find people, it'll probably be there. 

~{x}~{x}~{x}~ 

Something doesn't feel right. The thought slips into my mind as Arcanine keeps running towards Celadon. I couldn't place why. There's a smell I was just noticing. The wind was blowing it away from us, and the trees ahead seemed to be off colored, purple among the brown leaves of a dying tree, the earth discolored in places.

"This doesn't feel right,' I say aloud, the wind stealing away my voice. Something catches my eye on the ground ahead. My eyes widen. "Sto-!' I begin ordering a halt, when a noise like a loud thump meets my ears, and Scruffy bucks up, coming to a stop and putting his body between me, and whatever is coming.

His howls of agony rend the air as he falls backwards, flinging me from his back. I roll with the momentum. Going over backwards, and coming up on my feet, my sword exiting it's sheath in a smooth, angry, hiss of steel. What I see is enough to make me freeze.

Scruffy's side is melted to the bone. Purple sludge mixes freely with his blood, hissing and spitting, eating away everything it touches as it devours more and more of the orange canines leg, pitting the bone in places, the white standing out in stark contrast to everything else. I'm frozen in shock. A dozen different impulses firing in my head at once, freezing me to the spot.

Motion ahead of us catches my eye. Snapping me out of my stupor, I start running as the sludgy purple forms of Muks ooze out of hollows in the ground towards Arcanine, and they're laughing. I snarl readying my blade, Scruffy is howling still when I draw level with him, his howls turn to anger when he sees the Muk, and my eyes widen again as I notice the discolored air ahead of us, fire build in Arcanines maw. Burning away the blood with a stinking sizzle. I try to change direction at the last moment, but I skid on the muddy earth, and the flames burst forward in an enraged howl.

The explosion rocks me to my core. It engulfs the clearing ahead of us in flame. The pressure wave picking me up and throwing me bodily, until a tree halts all momentum. Everything goes black. 

~{x}~{x}~{x}~ 

My head aches, and I can feel a goose egg rising even as the vertigo hits me. My vision is blurry as I slowly drag my eyelids open, my mouth taste like burnt rubber. I groan in pain, my joints popping as I attempt to move, nothing broken, at least as far as I can tell, but my back feels like one giant bruise.

As I grab the hilt of my sword from where it's embedded next to my eye, making a shallow cut on my temple. Everything comes into sharp focus, a snarl forms on my face. Lips pulling away from my teeth in a wolfs challenge. A dozen different ways to kill flowing through my head, I drag myself to my feet using the blade as a fulcrum. I pull it from the tree in one sharp tug. Moving towards scruffy with purpose.

The explosion rolled him back. I swallow back the sick feeling in my stomach as I note the pool of blood forming around him clinically. The air in the clearing ahead has mostly cleared. The discolored dirt like glass. Where the heat touched it heat waves roll off the earth. I move to aid my dog, when a stink comes to my nose and a single word draws all of my hate and ire.

"MUK!' A scream of rage, equal to my own in it's intensity. I yell in response a wordless roar filled with all of my anger, gripping my blade tighter. Everything snaps into focus, and two pokeballs hit the ground.

The sludge monster seems to draw back as the red light forms into two enraged Pokemon. Bic lets loose a roar of challenge, and the thing turns to flee. I nod at Bic, and he takes off after it at a slow pace, his growl is wordless, but mocking in the way it sounds, heat rolls off him in waves.

"Lu', with me!' I yell. Running to Scruffy's side, the youngest member of my party comes to a stop by my side as I slide to my knees next to our friend, slamming the point of my blade down next to me I try and staunch the bleeding. The poison is still spreading. Slower now, diluted as it is by the blood. His bones are visibly eaten, marrow visible in some spots.

"No, no, no, no, no!' I'm frantic as I try to hold the blood in, the diluted sludge eats at my gloves and armor, hissing where it touches . "Stop!' I hear next to me, the voice familiar even if it had never spoken words I could understand before. Lu' drags me away from the wound. I don't resist, there's nothing I can do.

"I'm sorry.' I say quietly, a rattling sigh escaping a moment later. Aura shrouded hands drag off my gloves and clean the poison from my chest plate. I can hear an explosion a short ways away, and the sound of footsteps approaching as I grab my blade and stand, what I need to do comes into sharp focus.

Scruffy is blind from the poison, suffering, pitiful whines escape his mouth, broken only by wet coughs that rack his body, my face sets into a rigid scowl as Bic lopes up, his face solemn a quiet conversation goes between him and Lu' but I'm not listening.

I step forward. Kneeling, positioning the blade to pass between his ribs, as the quickest way to do it passes into my mind. Never mind that I'd never studied Poke'anatomy.

"I love you.' I tell him, and drive the blade forward into his heart to end his suffering. I stand without a word, pulling the blade free as I do so. Bic stares ahead, arms crossed. I look at him in question and he just nods. Lu' stands next to me, laying a hand on my arm, we stand like that until the sun settles below the horizon, and the only light left is cast by Bic's tail.

I don't know how long we stood there. Bic and Lu are roused as I step forward, and take one of the braided lengths of Scruffy's mane in my hand, removing it with a single stroke of my blade I tie it around my wrist and walk away, flicking the blood from my blade and sheathing it. I issue only one command while looking at Bic, then I turn and walk away. Lu' following.

"Leave nothing for the scavengers.' The temperature of the clearing rises as Bic nod, his tail flame seemingly pulsing in time with his heart beat, he opens his mouth and a sinister bluish white flame spills forth. Turning even the bone to ash. 

~{x}~{x}~{x}~ 

R&R


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: I really wish I owned Pokemon. If I did, shoot, there would be a Poke`wars anime, and a game. One released only on next gen consoles, it would be epic.

An: I hate writing dialogue. As you will all likely see as you read further into this chapter. Well, I did my best, and I think I did alright. Let me know how I did in a review please. I do my best to respond to all input, and I look forward to discussing it with any of you.

Aug31 - early

~{x}~{x}~{x}~

We walked until I collapsed from exhaustion. My knees hit the soft earth, the wet soaking through my pant legs, I don't even try to catch myself. Just flopping the rest of the way to the ground. Laying there in shock.

We'd walked in silence. It wasn't like the last times we lost party members. Those times we'd been too tired, or injured, or hyped up on adrenaline for it to really fester, to take root. It had hurt but it had been in combat, in battle. I think it was easier for the mind to process it, there was a reason. We'd been fighting. This though, this was like the pain I'd felt for my mother. A helpless agony. It was just, I should have noticed the Muk sooner, should have realized what was wrong, should never have let this happen, should have never left home, should have left a Pokemon with her, should have been there.

Intellectually, I know it wasn't my fault. Know there was nothing I could have done, but here, laying in the wet and cold of the woods at night, it festered, and I fell into a fitful sleep of nightmares and self hatred.

In the morning, the sun wakes me as it crests the horizon. Golden beams shining through the trees, entirely too beautiful for my dark mood.

It feels like I've been washed out, stonewashed on the inside. Empty, but focused, oh so focused. A slow fury building in my gut. Antithesis to the hot snapping furies of Bic when he was in battle, or the sharp burst of rage of Lu' when I'm in danger. It's a cold and cruel anger that burns low in my belly twisting my guts into near sickness from it's intensity. I don't rant or rage or curse the world. I simply stand, taking the hilt of my sword in hand and continue walking, something inside me has rotted away. Leaving a home for bitter anger.

Out of the corner of my eye I can see Lu' share a worried glance with Bic, both speaking low where I can't hear them. Once I would have said it didn't matter. That I can't understand anyway, now though, I remember last night hearing Lu' speak. A ghost of a smile flits on to my face and dies soon after.

"Lu'." I croak out, just to get his attention. To see if I'd been imaging it before in the heat of the moment, consumed by panic and sadness.

"Father?" He answers back, his voice soft but firm every word coming across clearly in a language I can understand. He speeds up until he's right next to me, head inclined up at my face attentively. I continue walking while staring at him in wonder. Bic sidles up next to us. His lip peeled back in an anticipatory grin.

"You can talk?" I ask, a chuff of laughter escaping with the words. Lu' tilts his head to the side in question, brow furrowing behind dark cloth, his mouth half opening to reply when a gravelly voice cuts across my thoughts sounding for all the world like someone who'd gargled razors their whole life, or perhaps eaten charcoal like it was candy.

"We've always talked. You're just learning to listen." I incline my head at Bic in thought for a moment, before nodding in acceptance of the point. Part of his speech was still coming across as his name but I could infer the parts I couldn't understand.

I can't think of anything else to say. They'd always been able to understand each other and me when I talked. Maybe I really was just never listening. I sigh and continue on, my mood turning sour again as the conversation dies. None of us ever having been particularly chatty individuals, we continue in silence.

~{x}~{x}~{x}~

I smell it far before we reach it. A stink like all the worst things you could imagine. The fetid rot of a bloated corpse, the ripping, rancid bite of vomit, the sharp, lingering odor of ammonia, the acrid whiff of ozone, and more, sweat, must, tar, rot, more and more. More than even my considerable sense of smell can pick up on.

I see Lu's snout curl in distaste, and Bic begins shrouding himself in smoke to try and kill some of the stink. I envy him a little as my stomach starts to churn at the odors. It's not for another moment that I see the tell-tale purple haze off in the distance that I pull a Bic's pokeball from my belt and call him back with a few words.

"I'd hate for your flame to send us to hell smelling like burned feces" I almost quirk a grin at him as he snorts, then call him back but the dark thoughts linger, and it makes it hard to feel anything but resolve and anger. I catch Lu' giving me another long look, and I almost ask him why, but as we draw closer to Celadon in silence, I'm not sure I want the answer.

The smell becomes truly unbearable as we reach near the toxic cloud. The tallest buildings of the city proper barely visible in the distance not long now, I think as I begin to gag on my own vomit. I'm trying to keep from retching. Until a furred hand grasps mine and I'm shrouded in an aura like flickering flames that filters out the stink. Allowing nothing through but clean air. My head automatically bobs in thanks towards Lu'. Even as his free hand is coming up in a thumbs up.

"How long?'' I ask softly, remembering the struggle he had at maintaining this technique only a few days ago. It wouldn't do for us to be in the middle of the cloud if it were to falter. He looks to be in deep thought for a moment when he answers.

"A couple hours." I don't quite laugh, what escapes is a combination of an amazed exhalation and a chuckle, making only a "Hah." but He preens as if I'd showered him in praise, Pokemon truly are amazing to improve in such a short amount of time.

"We'd best hurry then." I say and take off in a run. I note it's oddly fast for me, but Lu' easily keeps up.

~{x}~{x}~{x}~

The city itself is like something out of a nightmare. Muk and Grimer ooze along the streets leaving a hissing spitting path of waste over everything they touch. The gasses from their bodies issue forth adding to the cloud that is around the city. It becomes denser with every second the poison types continue existing. It's like looking at a purple dawn, in a few days it would probably be so dense it completely blocks out the sky. The air itself slowly eats away at the walls of every building I can see, those being actively touched or moved over by the Pokemon have already begun to be completely broken down. Falling away in great pieces, as they're melted by sludge and the acidic nature of the many bodies. The ground is almost completely covered by a layer of slime the same color as the many soft bodies.

I shake my head in amazed horror. In such a short time they'd already begun to completely change the ecosystem to be perfect for them and deadly to everything else.

"This could be a problem." I state. Voice low as I kneel behind the rotting wall of a building with Lu'. Poison oozes around my knee, and feet where they touch the ground, but none of it touches us. Lu's aura keeps it well away.

I look around near frantically for a solution, the finite nature of the aura shroud keeping us alive very much at the forefront of my mind as I look for a way to proceed. I bring up the map of the city on my pokegear. Saying a silent prayer of thanks to the old man from Cherrygrove for giving me the map chip as I come up with a plan.

"Alright, here's what we're gonna do." Lu' snaps his eyes to me, and I nearly flinch at the overwhelming faith I can see in them. Dear, Arceus. Don't let me fail. I pray as I lay the plan out to Lu' and we proceed to put it into action.

~{x}~{x}~{x}~

Maybe this wasn't such a good idea after all. I think as I'm suspended thirty feet over the ground. The only thing holding me up the strength of the Pokemon I'm clinging to, as his claws dig into the side of the building, slowly dragging us upwards in defiance of gravity and good sense. His easy breathing is a testament to his endurance as he carries us both upwards while maintaining the shroud of aura that is keeping us from death.

As of yet it seems like the poison types have kept to the lower levels of the city. As they expand I'm sure that will change but for now the only path forward I can see is up and over. Thus, my plan is simple. Climb the nearest building and make our way across the city. One building at a time. The map on my pokegear shows the clearest path.

The first building appears to be an apartment building. It, like everything else in this once beautiful city is starting to rot. The stone and metal of the buildings exterior have begun to decay under the combined noxious fumes of countless poison types.

The third floor. I judged it to be high enough. As the walls have far less damage and much less slime thirty, or so feet up than they do farther down. He(Lu') lets go with one hand for a moment. Causing us to swing sideways. My heart flutters at the sudden movement. For an instant I'm afraid we'll fall, and then I notice what he's doing. Thumbs up, and a motion for me to go ahead and climb through the melted window.

Climbing through the window while making sure that I keep in constant contact with Lu' is nerve wracking. If I lose contact with him for an instant the shroud of aura will leave my body, and I'll be killed by the poison in the air.

He helps the process along by pushing me up every step of the way. Still it's not something I look forward to repeating. Contrary to my difficulty, as I clear the floor and maintain contact, Lu pulls himself up like it's nothing. I sigh, and turn my eyes to the room.

The slime at this level is patchy at best. Paths of it eat at the tile floor, pitting it, even eating clean through in places, but it isn't a complete coverage, I can easily plot a course through the room that doesn't take us through any of the corrosive material. This high up the air looks cleaner as well. The fumes don't seem to have built up enough to be truly thick at this level, and the building helps somewhat in keeping it back. It crosses my mind that a good air filter could let a person breath in this without too much issue as long as they avoided the slime they'd be alright in an airtight suit. The walls are little better. The same sort of patchy damage has been done to them. Though, it might actually be less on the vertical surface. The windows are in various states of melted or broken. A light wind pushes through the room. Making the fumes swirl in strange patterns, but I can't feel it through the aura shroud.

"Focus." shaking my head to clear it, I admonish myself for letting my thoughts wander in such a situation. Lu' looks at me quizzically. His head nodding to the side, in a decidedly canine way. I'm not sure if he can hear me or not, but probably. He shoots me a thumbs up with his free hand that coupled with the rest of his body language comes off as questioning.

I sigh at myself. Bowing my head slightly before nodding, moving forward across this floor. Careful to avoid the holes, and stepping around the slime whenever possible. To avoid any potential mishaps. We pass though many different rooms. At times even passing through holes in the wall that were obviously melted through it. Or that were created by a Pokemon attack of some kind.

The atmosphere is oppressive to say the least. There is a constant fear in the back of my head that at any moment a wave of purple bodies is going to crest the wall and crush us with sheer force of numbers. The darkness and the misty quality of the air don't help, creating strange shapes that have me jerking to draw my blade before a smaller, surer hand stops me.

Lu' is nothing but cool confidence. Every step he takes is a fluid threat, every swivel of his head promising to lay waste to anything attempting to harm us. I grip the hilt of my sword tighter and calm. I need to be strong for the ones counting on me. For the only two I have left.

~{x}~{x}~{x}~

"This is the tricky part." I mumble, eyeing the expanse of air between us and the next building. The Celadon department store. I look down, and take a step back at the mild vertigo that takes me from staring down the thirty foot drop. Lu' grasps my hand tighter in a reassuring way as I look for our entrance to the next building.

"Can you sense any threats through that opening?" I ask. Pointing at a good sized opening melted into the opposite wall on our same level, it's the electronic entertainment floor if I remember correctly.

I'd let out a relieved breathe after seeing it. There had been no guarantee that there even was a hole big enough, or at all on this side of the building. Lu' goes completely still for a moment as I ask the question. The aura around us dimming for a moment as he puts his focus into sensing enemies further away. It doesn't worry me. I trust Lu' and all of my Pokemon with my life. With my very existence even.

"None." He says finally, his voice barely more than a whisper as it comes to me. The shroud returning to its full strength as his concentration is un-split. The ordeal not even seeming to wind Lu' in the slightest. He's growing in leaps and bounds. It makes me proud beyond belief.

"Can you make this gap?" I ask him, turning to look at his face so I can gauge his reaction. He looks at me for a moment before turning his eyes to the task. Head cocked to the side in apparent thought, before he nods sharply once. Not even a moment of doubt in his mind. Seconds later he's flinging us bodily through the air.

An energetic grin splits my face for a second as the weightlessness of flying through the air takes hold. I hold back an exultant scream as we soar, and grunt as our feet touch down on the department stores floor just a moment later, and hold in a startled curse as I realize if we'd jumped even six inches further we'd have fallen the full thirty feet to the ground below. This floor and those below it are simply gone, save for some beams and parts of the floor. We'll have to go up. Going down is not an option.

~{x}~{x}~{x}~

It takes only second for Lu' and his ability to sense aura to find the stairs up, only a few seconds after that for him to confirm that they were safe and void of hostile life. It's likely that the large amount of damage to the bottom few floors of this building is due to the large number of trainers and other humans that were on it and the Trainers Market of one floor down. Floors four and five were generally less populated. The cost of the items on the fourth and fifth floor keeping the average person from ever going up there for more than curiosity sake. I can only ever remember going there myself three times in my entire career as a trainer.

As we crest the top of the stairs and come up to the next floor I sigh at the site. Nearly everything is covered in the toxic sludge. The racks of evolutionary stones. The high end Pokemon dolls. The various types of expensive stationary, all covered in slime. I don't hold much hope for the latter two, but I am going to at least check into the stones. Something good should come out of this even if it is just Evolutionary rocks I don't have Pokemon to use them on.

Lu' looks at me worriedly as I sigh for the umpteenth time, as I stand away from where I'd been looking through the stones. One thunder stone, two leaf stones, two fire stone, and one water stone are all I could find. Of the dozens of stones these are all that are left. I shove them into my pack and tell Lu' we're going to look into the pharmacy. The medicines and supplement are of far more importance anyway.

I blink in surprise as I step carefully off the sludge covered stairs. The next floor is nearly completely devoid of slime. I can see definite signs that some of the poison types have moved across the floor but for the most part there is very little sludge and the air seems if not clean, then cleaner. The shelves and displays of medicine and supplements are largely undamaged, if not undisturbed.

That however is not what's surprising, Lu' inhales sharply only nanoseconds before we come off of the stairs. His ability to sense aura is definitely getting better, but he still has trouble expanding it into a sphere of awareness without concentrating very hard, for now it's more like an awareness disc. Flat but able to extend further without taking as much concentration, or at least that's how I understand it.

That breath is all it take to get every helmeted head in the room to sharply turn and look at us. We freeze. No freeze is the wrong word, it's more like time stopped and the universe took in a breath as we all wait to see if the situation is a good or bad one. Then the moment is broken as one of the – for lack of a better term Ninja snaps out a sharp command to the rest of them, and they immediately resume throwing the medicines into heavy bags.

The one giving the orders approaches in an obviously non-threatening manner. His heavily gloved hands open to his sides showing me his palms. His slow pace gives me a moment to take him in and try to get over the shock of finding people alive in this city where nothing but death seems to preside, for that I'm grateful.

They're all wearing body covering suits of heavy leather and ceramic. It has a dull gleam I notice as he moves, the material likely treated to make it retardant to everything imaginable, and less likely to absorb or let in harmful liquids and toxin. Thin ceramic pauldrons rest on the mans broad shoulders as he walks forward. The entire ensemble is dyed a toxic purple that makes them blend into the very air around them.

All in all he looks like what anyone would expect a ninja to look like in all cases except for the helmet. It too is made of heavy leather, but the mouth piece is definitely metal two cylindrical filters feed into tubes, that feed into a box like apparatus it's likely a multi-chamber filter of some kind. Meant to insure the cleansing of toxins from the air. Couple with some sort of anti-toxic solution soaked into the filter and they have little to worry about as long as they don't dally. All I can see of the man is his eyes, sharp as a tack as they assess me assessing him.

He speaks first, his voice distorted as it comes out of the heavy filter, but strangely familiar all the same. "We are of no threat to you, young trainer. I am Koga. Fuschia city Gym leader. Come to this forsaken city with my Shinobi to find the lady Erika. I am afraid that she is likely dead." His voice goes from a strong if not distorted tone to one of sadness as he mention Erika. I don't know how to feel, I hadn't know the women, or given her a second though after Bic tore through her Gym like a knife through air. That is to say, with no resistance.

I don't say anything for a moment, still watching his Shinobi as he calls them move around the room, finishing up their appointed task before I speak. "I am Hiiro, a trainer from Pallet Town. This is Lu'." I can think of no more to say, still stunned that there were people here, and not just any people, but Koga a Gym leader, it is more than I could have hoped for.

Koga touches a hand to the side of his head then, replying softer than I can hear into what is likely a short distance radio of some sort before he returns his focus to me. "We are done here. If you wish to come with us you may, we are headed to a safe place." He says not unkindly and I nod. Yeah, that seems like a good next step.

~{x}~{x}~{x}~

We made our way to the roof of the department store after that, silent as their namesake would demand we ghosted onto the highest level of this building. They already have a zip line ready. They are, in a word – efficient. Everything about them from the way they move to their order pf operation is done without the smallest margin for error. One by one they sail across the gap to the next building on a heavy rope, apparently treated the same way as their armor.

Far to quickly my and Lu's turn comes up. It is not as fun as jumping. I feel sick as Lu' and I grip the handle of the device meant to ferry us across each with only one hand, and we're off. Thankfully we don't fall the several dozen feet to our deaths. Well, I amend as I look at Lu' my death at the very least.

With nary a moment to breath as we alight on the far roof, we're off again. The shinobi leap the next gap onto a lower roof with almost inhuman grace and ability. Lu' flings he and I across with inhuman grace. We don't stop running after we land intent to get out of the Arceus damned city as quickly as possible. It's all going well we're nearing the eastern exit of town when my Poke`gear begins chirping with the map lighting up, I curse as everyone scrambles to hide at the unexpected noise. The shinobi quite simply disappear, none smoother than Koga behind blankets made to absolutely resemble the walls of the building. Lu' grabs me and drags me behind a wall as I slam my free hand over the device, and mute the sound.

None of us dare move for minutes. Five turns to ten turns to fifteen before Koga pulls his blanket away and advances on me. "What was that?" he demands. Almost advancing into my personal space before a single harshly spoken word from Lu' stops him cold.

"Stop." He said, I swallow heavily realizing my lack of forethought to turn the sound off could have cost us all our lives. Having looked at the map extensively while we waited for the all clear, I give an answer.

"Some sort of distress signal." I hold the gear at an angle he can see, it is still blinking slightly with the map open a red dot appearing over the Game corner's prize center. I can only assume he scowls at the device as his eyes narrow. "Impossible, there is nothing there." I do scowl at that. My vow to save people warring with my good sense.

"Someone could need our help." I say angrily. He looked at me then, eyes still narrowed, I hate that I cannot get a read on his face. "We are wasting time,' he says, "Come that is likely an old signal." He speaks into his headset and the rest of the group moves on, Koga waits for me to follow, but I stay still, free hand clenched on the hilt of my blade. I look at Lu', I can tell he will do anything I want him to, even if I were to order him to attack this man or even battle every Muk in this city. His loyalty is terrifying.

"Mark your base on my map, I'll meet you there." I won't give up, even if there is only a slim chance that there may be someone alive in this city I can't not try and save them. Never again.

Koga seems to deflate then. Speaking quietly into his headset he rights himself and looks me directly in the eye. "You are a young fool," He says, I nod in agreement. I won't deny what I'm about to do is foolish. I get the impression that he smiles then. "But so was I once, come, as a Gym leader I cannot let you get yourself killed."

~{x}~{x}~{x}~

With all of the other shinobi already having moved out of the city, following Koga becomes exponentially harder. He is like a ghost, moving from shadow to shadow, disappearing at a moments notice at the slightest hint of an enemy. Lu' follows him unerringly however. Through any and all disguises. He cannot hide his aura after all. This allows us to keep up without him having to double back. With the Gym Leader scouting ahead, and Lu' looking out with his aura, it's almost child's play to get to the game corner. There are a few close calls, Koga even hides all three of us behind his camouflage once when a Muk oozed its way out of the floor in front of us, its eyes thankfully facing away from us, but we made it. Lu' is breathing heavily, the strain of keeping the shroud up for so long starting to get to him, but he soldiers on with a single minded focus that is frightening.

Lu' gives us the all clear, and we move into the dilapidated building. There is nothing. A bare counter is before us, corroded prizes and empty Pokeballs litter the floor. "Hello." I call quietly, stepping further into the room with Lu' as Koga stands watch by the door. "We got your signal, hello!" I try again louder as I go behind the counter.

A light flickers on, at the counter behind us. My blade is half way out of it's sheath before Lu' stays my hand. A computer screen flickers before us, badly damaged a general error message plays across its screen. I sigh as we draw closer. We came all this way for a malfunctioning computer sending out a general distress beacon.

"Typical." I mutter, as Koga silently watches, arms crossed from the door. As a beam of rainbow colored light lances from the screen into my Pokegear, and the computer goes dead as I slash it in half before Lu' can stop me. I glance down at my gear, and think I see an eye staring back through its small screen, I flinch and when I look again it's gone, the device now showing a page of number and symbols I don't understand until a progress bar appears, with two words above it in bold capitals.

**ACTUATING SYSTEM(s)...**

I sigh, Typical. "You see," Koga says, as he approaches. "Foolish, but perhaps not worthless. Come our time here is at a close."

He rushes out of the building, we follow. It takes no time at all to get beyond the city and its noxious cloud. As soon as we are passed it, Lu' drops his shroud panting, but still giving me a thumbs up as I praise him.

The group of shinobi wait in the trees. As we approach Koga speaks into his headset and we keep running intent on making distance between us and the toxic city before we stop. I don't know what the future hold, but for now I just throw myself into the running. Not thinking, just running. I am with people now, but will that really change anything? Only time would tell.

~{x}~{x}~{x}~

I hope it was worth the wait, see y'all next time. Drop me a line and let me know what you think.


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: I, of course, do not own Pokemon.

An: Holy crap! I actually managed to get out of August! Rock on. Things should start picking up in this chapter and not really slowing back down. Good to be back, took a while, but I'm sure y'all are used to that by now. Sorry for any grammatical errors. I try and clean them up as best as possible but, eh. I'm only one human. As always, please enjoy the fruits of my labor.

September 1

~{x}~{x}~{x}~

We ran until we were well away from Celadon. Not stopping until even the toxic cloud that devoured the sky was out of sight. the sun setting as we move, the darkness our ally in these vicious lands.

The earth rushed by beneath my feet leaves crunching and twigs snapping as my feet dig furrows into the ground every time I push away, trees whipping by in a blur. Small puffs of dirt or grass the only sign of our passing. My eyes adjust to the darkness quickly, the moon casting pale light onto the world that barely makes it safe to move through. The shinobi under Koga's command set a dizzying pace. They are like ghost in the pale light. I do my best to match how they run, clenching the hilt of my sword as I concentrate on putting one foot in front of the other. My only companions the dirt and the trees. My Pokemon normally always at my side, in their balls.

I didn't want to make them keep pace. Bic would complain to no end, and after maintaining the shroud as he did Lu deserved a rest. It was disconcerting but I tried not to think on it too hard. And for all the ninja with me with their silent, solemn presence they may as well not even be there. At times I could almost forget about them if it weren't for the occasional change of direction or command.

"Halt." The word sharp and abrupt. I only manage to not hit the man in front of me by instinct. Drawing to a stop inches behind him. I step to the side. Looking to see if I can discern what the cause of the reprieve is.

"Why have we stopped," I wanted to ask, but held back. It wasn't in my nature to be overly wordy. I'd spent most of my life alone with only my Pokemon for company.

I don't see anything that would indicate a reason. My breathing is even after the long run. Only slightly elevated. It was just one more oddity on top of dozens more, I pay it no mind. Koga laughs at something, I'm assuming said through their helmets and I start. I think it's the first time I've heard another human being laugh since this mess started. His hands move to the sides of his mask, air hissing as he undoes some unseen clasp. The noise becoming familiar as it rings out many more times from the rest of the shinobi all removing their head gear. They seem more human now. I hadn't realized how unsettling the many faceless warriors were until the effect was dispelled. My hand for the first time since we started running together settled at my side instead of on the hilt of my blade.

A guard rotation is quickly established and half of the ninja rest while the other half go to work making the small clearing safe. Setting simple traps, releasing for the first time in the short time since I've been with them Pokemon. Grimer, voltorb, Golbat, what you'd expect from them. I flinch as an Ariados is released. I'm back in ravaged Ecruteak watching my friends die, watching my family kill. My sword is a tenth of the way out of its sheath before I remembered where I was. The approach of Koga staying my hand.

I meet his eyes, expecting confusion. Or perhaps suspicion, all I can see is understanding. "I have seen that look many times in recent days," He says after a long pause. "It is never an easy thing to face loss the way we have been forced to, or to be reminded of it." I nod but don't add anything. I can't. My back straightens as I breathe slowly, re-centering myself. It comes far easier than ever before in my life, my sword seems to hum in these moments, but I pay it no mind. For the first time since we've stopped I notice the sun beginning to peak over the horizon. It makes me blink in surprise.

"Ah, you noticed." Koga seems pleased. I just look at him puzzled, brows drawing together in place of a question. Steering the conversation away from the talk of loss. "We ran all night, I hadn't expected you to be able to keep pace." He admits that without even the slightest bit of apology. But all night? I hardly feel winded, the rest of the group seem fine too. How is that possible? Scruffy, My teeth clench but I move passed it. Finishing the thought. Scruffy could run all night, but he was a Pokemon.

"It is strange is it not?" Koga asks absently. "In recent days we noticed that we could run longer, hit harder. That we are simply," He seems to search for a word for a moment. "Better, we simply became better." Like our Pokemon did. It goes unsaid, but it makes me think. Did whatever affected them affect us too? Just, much slower.

Before I can dwell on it, Koga continues. "In any case it is helpful. Sleep for now. I will wake you when it is time to leave." I nod. Releasing Bic as I sit against a tree that I'm sure is free of Shinobi. He snarls as he's released. He looks ready to fight. I sigh. He holds his pose for a moment as everyone assesses him, before snorting. Raising his snout at the other humans and their Pokemon as if to say: You aren't even worth my time. Before curling up near me, the warmth from his body comforting.

"Be good," I mumble, giving no further command as I lay back against the trunk to sleep. Thinking maybe the world would make more sense when I woke up.

~{x}~{x}~{x}~

I slept better than I expected, but not by much. Even the slightest noise was enough to wake me. Not used to the presence of people after so long I could barely make myself sleep. Catching it in snippets, as I listen to the world around me. I felt as if it would become a recurring theme.

In one of the deeper moments of sleep I snap awake as a rumbling growl sounds next to me. A clear warning. Though, not for me. Bic didn't let Koga within arms reach of my sleeping form. I can see a thin burst of smoke curl form Bic's nose as he watches Koga who has his hands raised in surrender.

"Time to go," He says with far too much cheer for someone being stared down by Bic. I only nod. Dragging myself away from the tree, popping my joints out whenever I move. And wasn't that a wonderful new acquisition, aches and pains. The last couple weeks had not been kind.

"Thanks," I tell Bic. He grunts in his usual way. Not acknowledging it, but I know him better than that. A slight grin pulls at his lip as he disappears into his ball. And then. With no fanfare. We're running again. The sun is making its way down casting the forest in shades of red and orange, making it look almost on fire. I shake my head to perish the thought. The forest is full of life. We avoid it like the plague.

I keep an eye on Koga, watching his feet as I run. Not staying too far from him as we go. It's hard to say how far we'd gone. The terrain doesn't vary much anywhere in central Kanto, except around towns, mountains and the coast. And I'd hardly traveled the wilderness of my home region enough to be able to tell one part from another.

Still we run. Endlessly it seems, the ground all running together as I move across it. I don't like it. It gives me too much time to think too much time to brood on the things I couldn't do, the things I should have done. Every few moments through some silent signal, likely word through their headsets, we all stop so they can assess a threat.

Koga and his group move as if they're one being. I'm the odd man out. Not moving with their same grace. Or with the same unity of purpose. If they are like a knife through the dark, then I'm the sword tearing through the shadows. When they move, they leave no trail. No tracks on the dirt, no leaves disturbed. Not even a scent.

Where I move, the stench of fire and blood permeates the air. I stink of death. And drag its reek in my wake. My feet rend the earth, my steps too heavy to not mark my passage with every step. Even trying to copy the way Koga moves only alleviate some of the problem. I guess it's not something that can be learned over night. Gritting my teeth, clenching at the hilt of my sword I carry on redoubling my efforts.

~{x}~{x}~{x}~

Again we stop as the sun breaks the horizon. Running at night. Sleeping during the day. I suppose that's the shinobi way? I honestly don't know. There is no call for a halt this time. We stop in utter silence. I'd picked up enough or their cues to know when to stop without being told.

I follow Koga as he moves about the small clearing declared for camp. Watching his interactions with his people. And I watch them. Seeing the subtle cues as they joke, as they throw their little knives to blow off steam. Everyone seems much more at ease since we've put a good bit of space between us and Celadon. Not relaxed, I hadn't seen relaxed since this all started. But less, wire ready to snap, more coiled spring. They treat me as one of their own.

We are all the same now I think. All human. All members of the same endangered species. I return their greetings with nods of my head and small smiles. Unusual for me, but it's just good to be around people after so long. I was forgetting what it was like. I remembered Koga being more flamboyant than he seems now. Something seems to be weighing on him. Something more than just what was weighing on all of us. The burden of command? I wonder.

He shows me how to set traps in silence. Showing rather than telling as we tie trip wires. Disguising them with leaves and whatever is handy. It's a learning experience. Later after that is done, the sun is making its way up. I can't say what time, my Pokegear still reading "**ACTUATING SYSTEM(s)...**" the progress bar barely having moved in the time between now and then. Sighing in frustration I spin one of the kunai, what the little knives are called, in my hand as Koga and another shinobi looks on laughing.

I'd picked up their use fast. Scarily fast I'm told. I can only shrug. The moment it came into my hand I just knew it. How to throw it, what angle to stab at to pierce a mans heart and disembowel them in the same movement. My sword seems to sing in moments like these, a pleasant tone between my ears. And Lu' cocks his head in that way that I know means he's watching something. But I can't bring myself to ask about it. Anything that will make me better able to protect what I have left I won't cast aside. Even if it twists me into something I'm not.

They say it's always quiet before the shit really hits the fan. I can attest to the relative truth of that statement. The hair on the back of my neck stands on end and my eyes wander involuntarily to stare into the woods seconds before we hear the snap of a line in the distance. A laugh cut off mid octave. And then Lu' is slamming into my side and the world lights up. A beam of pure white energy ripping through the clearing. Everything in its path simply ceasing to be, thunder claps as air rushes into the space where the beam passes. The smell of ozone raw in my nose.

Before I can get my bearing Lu' is dragging me away again. I barely register dragging my sword out as a second beam tears through the camp and a trio of shinobi slightly slower than the rest. Their intestines spill hot and ropy onto the forest floor as their bottom halves are simply burned away. Bile burns in my throat, adrenalin pumps through my veins like poison setting my muscles on fire with new strength. Everything snaps into focus. Unified even in disarray, Koga and his shinobi move to meet the threats.

I growl as they move into the clearing. Their great bulk pushing aside trees like they're nothing, sending the shinobi in their branches scattering the birds. Their little claws already wet with the blood of the vanguard. They laugh as they see us, great belly laughs that makes their thick fat ripple. Even as they shove everything within reach into their gaping maws. Munching away, covered in gore. A trio of Snorlax.

The Pokemon of the fallen shinobi go mad as they see them. They'd been lost just moments ago. Staring at the remains of their trainers in a daze. The innards steaming despite the heat of the day. Seeing the form of their trainers killers drives them mad with fury.

They move forward as one. Obviously well trained at working in tandem their attacks lance out in picture perfect combinations. Toxic spray masked by rain of poison needles, and a layer of silken string that I can attest to the strength of. It's all for naught though. My eyes widen as the group of enemies laugh it off. The poison having no affect, coating their bodies like water and doing nothing. Laughing the one I've deemed the leader heaves back and slaps its belly the force sending the poison and needle that barely penetrated it's great bulk back into our allies.

I can hear Koga barking orders somewhere off to my right but I'm too focused to acknowledge it. Blood pounding in my ears I struggle to keep pace with Lu'. We as a group had not been idle. Coldly accepting that the Pokemon that had attacked on their own were lost, Lu' and I move to flank. Shinobi move through the trees above us spreading wire and thread in a grid above the distracted enemies, I grin a wolves grin. I'm not sure I could have handles this alone. Not easily at least. Being in a group had its advantages.

Another beam rips through the air as the third Snorlax makes itself known. Lu' drags me down as the beam sweeps across where we were just moments ago. Gore rains down onto me. Finding its way into my armor and running slick down my back. My nose clogs with the sickly sweet stench of blood. And I falter, blinded by blood. Lu' drags me away.

The framework of the web being made comes apart as part of it is simply burned away. I can hear it snap as I work to clear my vision. Hacking and spitting the offending material onto the ground in red splotches. "Damn." I breath explosively.

I regain my vision in time to see one of the Snorlax being drug down in a partial web of wire and thread, the two other Snorlax distracted by the joint effort of Koga and his team. I know I'd thought it a lot just from watching the way all of them move. But Koga and his Pokemon really do move as if of one body. Knowing that poison will have no affect he orders powder moves used, the slower of the two Snorlax is coated in thick yellow stun spores as it uses its bulk to block the attack. A vicious grin splits my lips as its muscles seize and it topples. I can taste blood in my mouth. The others move in for the kill. Koga's Crobat moving for the neck only to have to veer away as the alpha Snorlax slams down in front of its downed comrade, roaring in fury. The force of the giga impact cratering the ground and uprooting trees. It takes Lu's steadying hand to keep me from stumbling.

Having been distracted by the epic throw down of Koga verses the two Snorlax I barely move in time to avoid the body flying towards me. As with a roar and a snap of web the restrained beast comes free, sending the defenders holding it down flying. Pissed off and covered in gore I decide to bring out the big guns.

With a snap hiss and a flash of red light. Bic hits the ground running. Roaring his challenge as he charges the newly free Snorlax. I yell for the others to assist Koga as Lu' and I charge our prey. Lu' goes high as Bic goes low, I baseball slide between the huge Pokemon legs. Coming up behind it in a crouch. We couldn't have done it better if we'd planned it.

We roar as one. I put my entire body into a single cut aimed at the joint of Snorlax's leg channeling the momentum of the slide into the slash, as a high jump kick slams under the beasts chin and a roaring ball of hate and rage hits its gut. I roll to the side as blood sprays from the wound I made in its leg. Cutting through the thick hide and fat was like cutting ballistic jelly. Not easy.

The force of the twin attacks on it's front and my cut topples it. It goes down roaring. Turning as it falls towards me its fist glows an ominous white as it descends. I freeze for a split second. Eyes going wide then snapping to narrow focus as a I can almost hear a voice ringing through my head screaming 'Move!' I leap to the side not a second too soon.

A fissure opens in the earth rending trees and soil along it track. An instant slower and I would have been swallowed up by the earth. I turn to retaliate. And sag. Turns out there was no need. Lu' stands crouched on the now slack Pokemon chest slamming his glowing fist into its head while screaming.

Bic Moves off to assist the others with the clean up. I think to do the same when the energy I'd had til a moment ago flees my body and I sit down hard next to the great fissure holding my sword flat across my lap. Looking across at my Lucario still brutalizing the monsters corpse I sigh.

"Lu'," I call quietly. Not yelling or raising my voice but he snaps to attention as if I'd shouted. Standing before me not a few seconds later. I put my sword away, dragging Lu' down to sit next to me I check him for injuries.

"You alright?" I ask, furrowing my brow as I look him over, grunting as blood runs down my cheek from my covered hair. Still unused to him being able to speak I start at his soft reply.

"Yes," a pause. "Are you well, father?" He cocks his head in my direction as he scratches at the horn in his chest. I smile softly. Glad that he was still the same Pokemon I knew from before this madness.

"Of course!" I tell him strongly with a nod. A snort is my reward for my effort. As the stink of burned meat makes its way into my nose. Bic strides towards us holding great hunks of fatty meat in his claws. Dripping with grease from the roasted fat he tears at it occasionally as he watches us.

"How is it?" He seems to consider my question for a moment before shrugging. "Too much gristle." I laugh as after saying that he shoves more of it into his mouth. Lu's snout curls in distaste.

~{x}~{x}~{x}~

Some time later I walk through the remains of the camp. All around us shinobi recover what is salvageable. Moving back and forth, we'd lost five in the initial assault and had about that many injured in various ways. And lost that many again in allied Pokemon. I was surprised it wasn't more. They were all frighteningly well trained. Other than Koga they weren't particularly powerful, but they were good at not dying if nothing else. Surprisingly the one that had been sent flying far enough to almost hit me had survived with no injuries besides scratches and a bruised ego.

If the shinobi had become more welcoming of me before the fight, now they looked at me almost like they look at Koga. A new found respect in their eyes as they look from me to my sword, then to my Pokemon. I'd thought to talk to Koga but he'd begged off sighting needing to see to the injured and decide on the next course of action. I'm told the original plan was to meet up with another group like this one that was farther north, but with the injured and dead it wouldn't be possible. And we'd be heading back to what they referred to as the 'enclave'. Home base I'm assuming.

The battle had lasted only scant minutes, but I felt like I'd climbed mount silver with one hand and took the express way down. Covered in gore Bic and I matched now, even Lu' was bloody up his arms. We made a hell of a trio next to the near immaculate ninja around us. Settling back into the side of a tree, my Pokemon arrayed next to me I prepared to rest. We moved out at dark and then it was a hard run to "Safety."


	4. Chapter 4

Disclaimer: I obviously don't own pokemon. I know these things are traditional but everyone knows all they do is confirm that we're knowingly using the source material unlawfully, yeah?

An: New chapter!? So soon! Is it the end of the world? Has Cthulu begun to awaken? Will the sports team win the big sporting event? Who knows. None of those questions answered in this chapter. For real though. This is where everything begins to pick up speed. The next few chapters are going to be crazy. I guess most writers would've waited a couple weeks to publish this, but I love you guys so I was like: "Yeah, I think two days is a long enough wait."

Big thanks to Agent of Chaos 112 for help with the chapter. They've got a new story out for Cornova's wars verse called "Poké Wars: The Remembrance" two chapters so far, it's pretty dang good, check it out.

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><p>September 6<p>

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><p>It was hot work walking. The September heat was beating down on us even in the middle of the night. The humidity was killing me, my duster was soaked minutes into our journey with sweat, and minutes later I was sweating straight through it into my armor. I itched all over from the filth- we had not stopped anywhere long enough for me to properly clean the grime off of myself, and the stink of rot on my person drifted into my nose, gagging me with every breath.<p>

As it turned out, running wasn't on our agenda. Calling it a hurried walk would be generous. With the addition of the wounded men our momentum slowed to a crawl, adding a whole new level of paranoia to the group. The light hearted banter in the clearing from the day before seemed like a distant dream.

Moving so slowly had everyone uneasy, jumping at shadows. I felt good about Lu' traveling with us instead of staying cooped up in his ball. I felt secure with the knowledge that he could perceive a threat long before we could, and was no more paranoid than usual for it. Bic was still a no go though, his flame stood out too much against the night.

What should have taken another day and a half at most, ended up taking four. Without my map I had no idea of where we were but I knew it was a long way from any cities. We kept coming across odd fixtures among the trees- a rusted kunai stabbed high in limbs of one, branches broken in an odd pattern in another. They mean nothing to me, but the others seemed to relax each time we came across one. They're in no set pattern, and I doubt I'd have even noticed them if it wasn't for the way that everyone of the shinobi turned to look at them as we come across one.

"Must be getting close," I say to Lu' in a whisper. He nods up at me, giving me a quick thumbs up before he returns to focusing completely on the world around our group. On several occasions it was only thanks to Lu' that we had managed to avoid a mishap like the one the night before. He could see everything in the aura plain as day. Even Pokemon concealing themselves. Especially Pokemon concealing themselves.

My clothes cling to my back, but not just from the sweat, the gore that had slid down inside my armor had never been cleaned out and had hardened, increasing my discomfort as it pulls at my skin with every step I take. The shinobi form something like a ring around me; almost breaking formation to be as far from me as possible. None willing to be close to a stink so offensive.

They tried to be subtle about it, but it was obvious from the way they moved and the way they turned their faces away from me, most not bothering to keep their helmets on for the walk because of the heat. The sole exception were those near me simply because of the smell. I wonder if being placed close to me in the formation was something of a punishment detail. The thought made me laugh humorlessly as we moved, earning me some odd looks from those around me. I didn't blame them, I didn't want to be near me either. I hope they have running water at this so called 'enclave'.

Still, I bear it stoically. Trudging along with the smell doesn't bother me, even as the flies race around my head, occasionally buzzing into my eyes and up my nose. No matter how many I snatch out of the air and smash the invasion continues, and eventually I stop bothering, the results not worth the effort and sweat of the motion. Lu' never moves away from me or even shows a sign that the smell bothered him. I knew it did but he never complained. Loyal to me even in these small ways. I silently thanked him for it.

~{x}~{x}~{x}~

It's nearing morning when I finally see something in the distance, looking like the ruins of some ancient structure. The style reminds me of the buildings in Ecruteak- remnants of a vaulted ceiling and clay tiles, sliding doors and a pristine wood floor all, but ruined. It was probably beautiful at one time, but that had to have been long ago. The once grand two story structure was in total ruin. I sigh, thinking, of course it was too good to be true. There's no way there could really be a safe place in a world like this.

Turning to Koga I start to ask what now when I see that he and the others are all smiling like they were coming home. Koga waves his hand at the trees around us, making a series of motions that I assume is sign language towards something I can't see. Likely getting the okay to proceed he soon looks back at the group.

Seeing my confused look the former Gym leader laughs. "Looking underneath that which is underneath is the shinobi way. Think on that." With those cryptic words and another laugh Koga marches toward the ruined structure, the shinobi follow, stepping through the mess like they'd done it a thousand times. I follow, looking to Lu' who nods reassuringly pointing towards the ground at my questioning look.

Beneath the ground, of course. I grimace at my lack of forethought. It wouldn't take much for wild pokemon to come wreck the place if it were above ground. Why needlessly put oneself at risk? That seemed to be a question the shinobi asked themselves a lot.

The entrance to the bunker is hidden well, as you'd expect. Hidden inside the hollowed out remnants of a set of stairs a heavy metal hatch greets us, just barely big enough for us to pass through one at a time. Koga works the latch with deft hands, heaving it open. No light spills out as it opens, a dark hole all the way down is all that greets us. But the air smells fresh enough and Lu' shows no sign of worry. That's good enough for me. Thanking him for his help I call him back and we begin making our way down the ladder.

~{x}~{x}~{x}~

We find ourselves in a decently sized antechamber, maybe thirty feet across, and seven feet from floor to ceiling. The entire thing made up of steel reinforced concrete. There's a single fixture above us casting dim light across our group, flickering on the moment the hatch slammed closed. No one greeted us however. The wall furthest from the ladder wasn't actually a complete wall at all. Instead a large portion of it was taken up by a solid steel vault door with no visible way to open it save for the solitary screen and camera on the wall next to it.

I stick close to Koga as he strides confidently towards it. Now that we were underground all of the shinobi had removed there helmets and were chatting happily about what they were going to do now that they were back; Take a shower, maybe a bath, eat real food, see their loved ones – children in some cases. The list went on and on. More than anything I watched their relieved faces, so different from the grim countenance they assumed in the field that made them look like death on two legs. Their new energy made me finally see them as people and allowed me to relax for the first time in their company.

The hissing of air as the door unseals behind has me jumping and reaching for the sword at my waist. A solid hand on my elbow stops the draw before I can accidentally kill someone on reflex. I look from the hand to its owner's face and can't help but grin back at Koga as he releases my arm. But I do note that drawing the sword in a tight space could be problematic, and I was already seeing different ways to draw the blade even while coming down the narrow shaft from before.

As we stepped into a quiet entry way the injured are quickly spirited away to the medical facility, their families following in their wake as they go, some laughing and some crying.

A women wails to my right as she is told her son had died, and a man breaks down as he learns his wife met a similar fate, his daughter hugged to his chest as they cry together. Friends and family pull those grieving away.

Those left behind smile guiltily as they see their loved ones again. Feeling empathy for those who lost, but glad that their loved ones were not the ones to suffer it, that they could go on living. Thus is life.

Someone come streaking down the hall towards us. She seems vaguely familiar like I'd met her before, and then she yells and I remember her.

"Brother!" A girl streaks down the hall, hugging Koga at a run, tears streaming down her face as she sees him. Aya- Koga's sister, I remembered them being close. This just reaffirmed that for me. "We were so worried," She says as she looks him over for injuries another woman urging him to come to the infirmary so he can be looked over but he waves them off. Looking around like he was looking for someone.

"Aya," He says softly, but she plows on heedless. "Everyone feared the worst when you didn't make it back in the projected time frame."

"Aya," He tries again putting more force into his voice but she ignores him, looking to me a scowl crosses her features. "And I suppose he is why you were late, Koga?" Her voice is sharp as she poses the question but I ignore it. I could recognize when someone was stalling as well as the next guy.

As it turned out so could Koga. "Aya!" He shouts, getting her to snap to attention in front of him. Her fist whipping to her chest in a silent salute. Softening his features he continues in the same gentle tone of voice he'd started with"Sister, where is Janine?" I catch the flinch at the girls name, though I don't think Koga does as he is looking over Aya's shoulder as if hoping the girl would pop out at the utterance of her name.

"She should have made it back before us, even before we were delayed. So why has she not greeted us?" He knew she hadn't made it back yet, he just didn't want to admit it. I could hear that much in his voice. Again he looks to his sister. I feel like a voyeur as some silent emotion passes between them and Aya starts to cry, telling him what she knows.

"She never came back," She sobs. "I thought I'd lost you both." Crying into Koga as he looks on stunned, I can't help but let loose a shaky sigh as I remember my mother. Koga's eyes snap onto me and I can see they're glassy as if he wants to cry, I give him a hesitant nod as out eyes meet, trying to convey that I understand. There was no shame in crying at a time like this.

Turning to the older woman that had been trying to get him to go get checked out he speaks, his voice stronger than I would have expected. "Chie, please escort Hiiro here to one of the empty rooms. Aya and I need to speak in private." Sparing me a nod he steers his sister away. I glance to the waiting woman and give her the universal symbol for ladies first. Nodding in thanks we proceed in silence and I get my first proper look at the enclave.

The walls and floors are the same reinforced concrete as in the ante-chamber. Giving off a sense of oppression even as they make you feel secure, the knowledge that I was a good fifty feet underground makes me swallow heavily, light is cast by evenly space florescent fixtures running the entire length of the hallway, and branching off whenever we come to an intersection.

I hadn't really thought about it before but I could hear a dull roar in the distance, down below? That was probably the generators. Electricity was more than I'd hoped for so I was pleased despite myself. The doors we pass are made of some light colored wood, all one solid piece of wood with a single bolt and a knob. Passing details are what let you know people lived here, each having some form of personalized touch, such as a hand made nameplate or similar.

One that is particularly memorable has a child's drawing rendered in crayon of a pair of figures, helpfully labeled 'father' and 'me', one facing off against a large group of crudely drawn monsters as what appears to be a town burns in the background while the 'me' hides behind 'father'. I smile until I realize what it represents. The fall of Fuschia. I don't look at another door as we walk on.

People occasionally pass us in the hall. Some I recognize, some I don't. Children give me wide eyed stares as we pass them in the halls, pointing at my sword or saying how I smell. I smile at that, as their parents admonish them for it, nodding at me and sometimes apologizing. I wave them off, children will be children. Their moods seem generally cheery, at least those that weren't mourning. Those I traveled with cast knowing looks towards those that were seeing me for the first time and at Chie's wrinkling, nose even as they pass me by in a wide arch. I'd yet to bathe or get rid of my rancid clothes after all. I nod at them all politely if not solemnly.

Chie is an interesting woman, I decide as I observe her, having grown bored of the endlessly winding hallways with their confusing similarities and paths that double back on themselves. Pretty in that understated way a lot of older women are. I figure she's about the same age as my mother was, though shorter. Maybe five five, and built more athletically. Dark eyes glance at me from the corners of her no nonsense face, her dark hair up in a tight bun.

She moves like the majority of the people here do- like I find myself moving more and more as the days go on, not so much walking as stalking forward, moving like a predator on the prowl. She brings to mind a pyroar on the hunt. I appreciate the way she moves as we walk further into the compound.

After what seems an age but was probably around five minutes we come to a stop out front of a door that is unlike the others we passed insofat that it bares no marking. Chie turns and gestures for me to enter. Giving her a look I shrug and swing the door open.

It's nice, if not a little on the small side. The door opens up to a small entryway. The room lit by a single bulb fixture in the middle of the ceiling. The floor is the same drab gray concrete as the rest of the place in a three by three square by the door. A wooden shoe box sits against the wall ready for my boots. Beyond the entryway the floor is covered in mats I recall being called tatami, made from rice straw if I remember correctly. The walls are the same concrete as the floor, but softened by a soft blue paint, not quite the azure of the sky, seemingly lighter, more comforting. A comfortable looking bed sits against the right wall. It's big enough for me to sleep comfortable alone or snugly with another person(or Pokemon) A small desk and chair next to it on the left against the far wall, seemingly to act as both a desk and side table.

A pair of doors- one sliding and one similar to the entrance, are present against the left wall. The sliding one opens into a small closet equipped with a dresser and hanging rack. It was not deep enough to walk into, but it would never the less provide ample space for my paltry supply of clothes. The other opens into a small bathroom equipped with a toilet, standing shower, hand sink and mirror.

The place was obviously built with practicality in mind but it seems they did try to take comfort into account. I can't help making an appreciative noise in my throat as I survey it. It was more than I'd hoped for and that shower was calling my name.

"I will wait outside for you to undress so that I may dispose of your current attire," Chie's voice startles me from my thoughts. I look at her in question for a moment. "Dispose of?" I ask incredulously, I only had so many clothes to begin with. She simply raises a single thin eyebrow before glancing me over once deliberately.

I follow her eyes and look down at myself. I mean really look at myself for the first time in days and sigh. I'm a mess. My armor is the worst of it, police riot armor just wasn't made to stand up to this sort of abuse. pitted badly in more than one place from the acidic poison of the Muk, gouged and cut, wood fragments dig into every inch of it from being too close to trees when they were destroyed. The arm guards are a total loss almost melted clean through in more than one place it was a wonder they were still holding to my arms at all. I'd lost a shin guard and had never even noticed. I can see that my leg is scorched through the burned portion of my pant leg and only now register the pain. I find many more holes in my pants as I continue looking. The physical damage while bad wasn't the most damning.

I'm covered in blood. Drenched in it. Bits of meat have dried and cling to near every inch of my person. It's no wonder I stink. My shirt and duster go without saying. Having been covered in the majority of the gore they were beyond saving. Scratching at my temple a tired laugh ghosts out from between my lips and I nod to Chie, ushering her from the room so I can strip down.

Getting undressed is easier said than done as it turns out. The dried blood clings to my skin as I pull the cloth away and it's a fight to get it loose. I lose more than a little hair during the endeavor, cursing and spitting out all the worse swears I know. But I persevere and finally succeed at undressing myself. The clothes piled against the door, the bandages come off easier than expected only making me grunt a little bit as they pull scabs while being removed, old blood and flesh cling to them. I'm not sorry to see them go. Fresh blood leaks slowly from a couple of wounds as I walk naked and filthy to the restroom carrying a change of clothes with me, I call out to let Chie know she can enter. Just catching sight of her as I close the bathroom door.

I'd left my bag laying on the desk. I wasn't worried about it. But a towel rack makes a decent resting place for my sword and pokeballs as I move about my business. It's not that I don't trust the ninja. Koga is a good man, I know that. But I doubt I'll ever feel truly comfortable without a weapon nearby again. That taken care of I survey the bathroom.

Looking the room over from up close reveals nothing else about it to me. It's clean but utilitarian and I am grateful to have it. As I move past the mirror I flinch. I barely recognize myself. I look older, jagged around the edges. Theirs a hollowness to my eyes I know will never fade, a hardness in the way I hold myself now, a sharpness in the way I move. It was a wonder anyone could stand to be around me. Still covered in blood and filth it wouldn't be an insult to say I look like a murder hobo, snorting I'll try and remember to tell Bic that one.

For a second I think I "feel' something. Furrowing my brow I wipe a hand across it. Carefully laying a hand across the piece of cloth bound to my head. I remove it, and lay it in the sink, beginning to gently wash the piece of my mothers apron, I'd taken it to remember I could never have been fast enough. It was covered in gore as well but I would never cast it aside. The "feeling' comes again, this time I glance at the door and jump as someone knocks on it. Chie's voice calling loud enough for me to hear.

"I will have fresh bandages ready for when you are done. Please take your time and get as clean as possible.' That said she moves away from the door and I lay the now clean cloth out to dry before scurrying into the shower.

The shower is little more than a small glass box with a drain, dials, and a faucet; but as the hot water washes over me it feels like heaven. Steam quickly fills the air as tension I didn't even realize I'd had fades from my muscles. The spray does its work well, the water flowing off my body flees down the drain in a continuous stream of red and pink mixed with soap suds. My hair is the worst of it as blood comes away in clumps and I feel like I'm ripping my own head off because of the knots but I get it clean and move on to the rest of my body. I don't know how long I'm in there but the bathroom is full of steam as I step out of the shower. I quickly put on boxers but don't bother with the rest as I still had to get bandaged back up.

I don't even try to hold back the lazy, satisfied smile that lays over my face. I was relaxed. At least as relaxed as I could ever be, I was still tense. Would always probably be that way but despite the aches in my body and the throbbing pain from freshly scrubbed wounds I feel good, great even. Going to my improvised sword stand I take down Lu's pokeball. He would appreciate being allowed to bathe I was sure, but Bic would just look at me as if I was an idiot for even suggesting it, so I leave his where it is.

With a familiar snap and hiss Lu is "looking' around the bathroom, I stand against the door so as not to crowd him. I'd expected him to say something about the shower or maybe the relative safety. What I get I didn't expect.

"Father, there is a women waiting in the other room," I nod, letting him know I am aware of the fact. He tilts his head in contemplation for a moment then continues. "Shall I wait in the shower until you are done?" My brow furrows in confusion and he clarifies. "Like in Cerulean city, the woman from the beach, you remember she," I cut him off spluttering and laughing. I remembered her very well, but I doubted this situation would end up like that one and tell him so.

"I see." Is his dry comeback as he steps into the shower and I step out into the room Bic's Pokeball and sword in hand.

Chie stands where she'd been waiting, the desk chair had been pulled to the middle of the room. Front facing the bathroom door. She was sitting in it as I exited, a myriad of medical supplies rest on the bed ready to be applied at her discretion. I sit in the chair without having to be told and she silently goes about her work. Her hands are especially cold against my skin still flushed from the hot shower and I jump the first time she pokes at one of my wounds. She barely pauses, going back to it silently and methodically, gingerly working her way across my body. It's obvious she knows what she's doing and is skilled at it. Her presence weighs down on me making it hard for me to say anything, so I don't even try. Sitting silently I simply enjoy the company of another human being and let her go about her business undisturbed. Sometime later I'm fully slathered with medicine and bandaged up. Chie moves with the quiet efficiency that I'd begun to equate with her as I watch her work. She's certainly attractive, definitely nice to watch but I don't think either of us was interested. Now was not the right time and I nod back as she finishes packing up and leaves my room with a friendly bow.

Sighing I flip Bic's pokeball up off the desk where I'd set it, letting him out with zero fanfare onto the only non-flammable portion of the room, the square of concrete by the door. He snorts as he looks at the straw mats, looking at me as if I was crazy for staying in such a flammable room but apparently not energetic enough to poke fun at me for it. Taking a couple of loping steps around his bed and breathing a fine powdering of ash down he curls up to sleep still coated in viscera.

Lu had exited the bathroom the minute Chie had left; his fur back to the vibrant blue I was used to seeing, no longer dulled by blood and filth his spikes shine. I hadn't heard the shower for a while before that so I figured he'd been waiting to see what happened. "She left," He says while looking at me, his head cocked to the side.

"Yes," I reply simply. As I position my sword next to the bed in such a way I could roll, draw and cut all in one motion if we were attacked while I slept. Scratching at his chest spike He climbs onto the foot of the bed and lays down. "I see." The lights get turned off and I try not to think of how empty the room feels without four more bodies to fill it. The thought haunts me until I fall asleep.

~{x}~{x}~{x}~

I wake an indeterminate number of hours later to a knock at the door. Lu' sits cross legged on the desk chair deep in meditation, I take that to mean we have nothing to worry about. Bic growls in irritation as a second knock rings out. Not wanting to risk an incident I call him back into his ball while he's still sleeping. Throwing a shirt on as I move the short distance across the room I make my way to the door my feet getting covered in ashes as I walk across Bic's bed, I grimace and snort at the same time as I see a char spot on one of the mats where his tail must have lain.

A third knock rings out on the door seconds before I open it. Koga stands looking unusually pensive. I step aside when I notices who it is gesturing for him to come in. He looks the room over in silence as I close the door, flicking the light switch as I turn, running a hand down my face to remove the sleep from my eyes. "I am sorry for waking you my my friend," He starts, I wave him off. No harm no foul. I watch him silently as he seems to gather his thoughts, plowing on as I listen. "I have something of a selfish request to make of you."

My eyes narrow slightly at that. What could he possibly need from me? I could literally think of nothing that I had or could do that he couldn't. Seeing my confusion he elaborates. "My daughter, Janine, she and her squad were on a mission similar to the one I was doing when you stumbled upon us in Celadon. She has not returned." He lets that hang in the air as I think. My brows furrowing as I wonder why he would need me, in this case just send more men. I remember Janine, she's around my age if I recall correctly, cute but high strung. I'd never battled her but I remember how fervently she cheered for her father when I battled him. They must have been very close.

Seeing that I wasn't planning to reply before he gave me all of the facts he continues, anxiety clear in his frame as he speaks. "Another team was sent to check in on them when they missed their check in. However they have since then not returned either. Our protocol says that one team is the limit, and I cannot order another team out simply because she is my daughter." That said he goes quiet watching me for reaction. My mind is a whirl of thought as I contemplate his words, so they cannot and will not send more people and Koga himself can obviously not go alone his people need him too much for that. So what could – Ah, I see.

My eyes meet his and I know he knows I've figure out what he want's. Breathing deeply I sigh in one explosive breath and give him a single solemn nod of the head. "I will bring your daughter back or confirm that she is gone. You have my word."

He sags in with relief. "Thank you, I'll meet you at the exit in one quarter hour." I wave him off, already moving about throwing on my clothes, my bandanna is still damp from being washed but I don it regardless. I felt naked without the armor. Having grown accustomed to its comforting weight but I'd just have to live with that. I'd never unpacked my bag and I sling it across my shoulder as I move towards the door. Lu follows closely behind me as I go.

There are a lot of people in the hall as I move quickly towards the exit. Some watch me silently, others wave or call out farewells, children gawk and ask their parents if I'm going to bring back their brother, or sister, father or mother. And I finally realize it wasn't just Janine I was going to look for but two full squads of shinobi, most of which had been trainers, all of which had went missing without a trace. For the first time since leaving my room I wondered if I was getting in a little over my head. My hand seeks out the handle of my sword it's a comforting weight on my hip and Lu pats my arm in reassurance. Too late to second guess myself now. There's Koga, Aya standing by his side.

"Thank -" They start to thank me again, and I wave them off before they can even finish. Everyone looks grateful but I'm not interested in their thanks. I just didn't want anyone else to suffer the loss of a loved one. I knew that pain too well to wish it on another person.

"You have a map?" I ask, Koga nods handing over a laminated square about the size of a text book, but thin as a piece of heavy paper. It's a map of Kanto with Janine's projected route marked down. It looks like she was meant to head north to silver town and then cut over to Lavender. And they'd lost contact with her near the eastern end of route eight. The same with the second squad. That would be my first stop. Motioning for them to open the door, I step out. Feeling like a fool I wave over my shoulder as the door closes at the crowd of well wishers. "I'll be going then."

A single shinobi was waiting for me in the antechamber. It was his job to open the hatch and then close it again once I'd left. It goes quickly and I'm into the blinding sun of a beautiful summer afternoon. It makes me want to vomit.

There's no need for words between Me and Lu. And we're streaking through the woods towards route eight.

~{x}~{x}~{x}~

We set a blistering pace. Lu easily keeping up with me, it's nearing dark when I finally start noticing signs that we are coming upon our first stop. Calling a halt I let Bic out. I wanted to rest for the night and start the search in earnest the next morning when I'd be able to see any tracks and not have to worry about being swamped by a pack of nocturnal pokemon. It was more than warm enough we wouldn't need a fire. Especially with Bic nearby but – My thoughts are cut off as Lu's head snaps up looking north east towards the route. The hairs on the back of my neck stand up. Bic drops low ready to rend anything that would threaten us to shreds.

"People," Is Lu's short explanation. "Are they the ones we're looking for?" I ask. "Perhaps, but something feels... Off." He says. Not that I care, I don't really need my pokemon out do I? I mean these are fellow humans. Obviously I'd be okay. The thoughts snake their way into my mind, subverting my weariness. Panic begins to set in before it's drowned by unnatural calm.

Lu snarls off to the side in response to the strange thoughts, Bic following his lead roars and my hand drops halfway to my blade. Not that it mattered, I just needed to return them. The thought is more insistent and the hand that was reaching for my sword grabs a pokeball instead. Yeah, there was nothing to worry about.

My Pokemon charge, they're fast but the twin red lances of energy that strike them in the back are quicker. And they're called back. Trapped in their pokeballs as the group of people enter the clearing laughing. My hand shoots for my sword and I'm half bowed to charge forward myself when the next thoughts weasel their way into my head.

"You're a feisty one aren't you? Why don't you kneel right there." Gesturing to the ground in front of himself the leader and the rest of his group laugh as if sharing an inside joke.

Yeah, I don't need this sword. There is nothing to worry about. They're here to help. Something subverts my will like it's not even there. The fight quickly flees my body and the leader grins at me as I pull my sword sheath and all from my belt. Kneeling on the ground I place my sword and pokeballs before me as if offering them to him.

"That's a good Hiiro, why don't you sleep now?" I scream at myself from deep down but, yeah, that sounds like a great idea. And darkness overtakes me.

~{x}~{x}~{x}~

An:Blam! My first cliffhanger. Tell me what you think.


	5. Chapter 5

Disclaimer:I don't own much of anything in regards to Pokemon, shoot even my games are mostly on a jail broke psp.

An: Once again, many thanks to Agent of Chaos 112 for their excellent help with the chapter, go check out their stuff, seriously, it's good.

This chapter is a little dark, not much going on but it's mostly to set the tone for the next part, and lay down what's going on and what sort of situation Hiiro is in. Dunno how trigger warnings work, but better safe than sorry, watch yourselves. Let me know what you all think.

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><p>September 9<p>

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><p>Waking up is like dragging myself through a sea of glass, my nerve endings light up with pain as my consciousness reasserts control over my body, I grunt as pain rips through my mind, feeling like someone clubbed me over the head, but I cannot detect any damage to it. I try to reorient myself as the memories of what had happened make me jolt as if struck.<p>

"Shit," I groan, clutching a hand to my head, nausea claws at my gut and I feel as if I'm going to be sick, my eyes- already shut against the pain- clench tighter as I fight back the sickness.

"Don't move too fast, it's always worst the first time," A female voice near my head has me recoiling backwards, the action meant to take me a full body length away and bring me to my feet fails as my arms jerk forward and send me crashing into the unforgiving stone floor.

"What?" I mutter, eyes opening for the first time to stare at my own wrists, bound by thick wires tethering me in place, each two foot cord leading back to a thick stone slab that they are bound through.

"I told you not to move and what's the first thing you do? I guess I can't blame you though," My eyes lock onto the one who'd spoken, a woman with dirty mid length purple hair done up in a spiky pony tail, narrow features and dark eyes, clothed lightly in her regular gym clothes of purple gi, mesh underclothes, but no shoes. Janine is in an odd state of dress, but it's reasonable to assume that they took her armor when they captured her. I look down at myself and find that I'm in similar circumstances, they'd taken everything but my pants, underclothes and shirt. Whoever they are.

My eyes move past her to take in the room and I find myself wishing they hadn't. Mist hangs heavy across the floor, the room lit dimly by sconces in the walls. People huddle in groups to fight the unnatural, un-seasonal cold that makes me shiver as I first notice it, my breath frosting in the air before me. My eyes rake across the beaten down forms around me, everyone is bound the same as I am, wires around both wrists tying us all like cattle to the thick stone slabs, tombstones I realize with a start.

There is no defiance here, none that I can see; men, women and children, filthy, and all in the same state of undress as I am look at me vacantly, despondent. Though not completely broken I can tell that the will to fight has fled from most of their minds, the children are beyond tears as their parents whisper comforting words into their ears, whatever has been done to them has convinced them there is no escape.

There is a prickling in the back of my mind accompanied by a slight pounding in my temple that has my eyes turning to a group apart from the rest, something about them feels wrong, it takes me a moment to catch but what I realize makes me want to vomit. Their eyes stare blank and unblinking into space, a thin line of drool running down the side of their mouths, men and women, numbering perhaps a dozen in all- broken, there is no other word for it, their eyes lack any spark of intelligence and other than the rise and fall of their chests there is no indication that they are even alive.

"What the fuck is this? What the hell do they want from us?" I ask harshly, the acrid taste of acid thick in my throat.

The pounding in my temple worsens, almost as if in response to my question. I turn to Janine, she's pale, bone white, the blood having drained from her face, people all around us shrink in on themselves, parents shielding their children with their bodies, men hugging their families close as if to hide them. I look around confused until a voice rings out from my right.

"I'm so glad you asked!" The voice is jovial, its owner talking to me as if discussing the weather, the man walks casually among those bound as if taking a stroll through a garden, people shy away from him and his escort of a single Pokemon, as they pass.

Average height, average build, brown hair, brown eyes, nothing about him is unique, save for the glow of power in his eyes that lets me know just what I'm up against. A psychic human, the reason I avoided Saffron for years after finally getting my badge from Sabrina.

He seems to pout as he sees the peoples reaction to his presence, gesturing widely with his arms as if to encompass the whole room he calls out, "Don't be like that, we're all friends aren't we?" Something wrenches control from me as I and everyone else in the room reply as one,

"Yes, Cameron," My head pounds as I'm suddenly in control of myself again, a young girl starts crying somewhere to my left and I grunt, gritting my teeth as something beyond fury ignites in my gut "You're insane."

Laying a hand to his chest Cameron -as I now know him- sways dramatically as if struck,"Hiiro, my good friend, you wound me." He moves forward gesturing to Janine, my eyes involuntarily move from glaring at him to looking at her.

"And after I put you so close to my esteemed guest too! You were looking for her were you not, and this is how you repay me!?" Anger flashes in his eyes for an instant, the lucidity fleeing his voice, before he is smiling again, that wide insane smile as if nothing was wrong. I try to bite back with something far worse than simply calling him insane but I find that I can't speak, my head throbs worse and worse the more I fight it, becoming almost unbearable, Cameron smiles wider and wider the harder I struggle.

"Come with me Hiiro, I'd like to show you something." The Slowking that had been standing silently beside Cameron gestures towards my restraints and the wires binding me uncoil like snakes, slithering away from my wrists to pile coiled at my feet.

I'm loose. That single thought echos around in my head as I play at rubbing feeling back into my wrists, I know he can see into my head, know he's probably listening right now, but I spring forward without thinking about it, letting pure muscle memory and instinct guide me as I explode passed the startled Slowking, a snarl on my face as I grunt, jabbing my palm sharply up and into Cameron's smugly smiling face, intent on driving his nose up and killing him before he can react.

Or I would have, had my body not simply stopped a scant inch from delivering the fatal blow, a corona of psychic energy encompassing my body, my world lights up with pain as pressure is slowly applied to every inch of me, it feels like I'll be crushed, reduced to a mass of meat and bones, before it stops with only a word from Cameron to his Slowking.

"Now, now, no need for that Slowking, Hiiro here just hasn't learned the situation he's in yet," Smiling he turns to me as the energy drops, and I come to rigid attention, control of my body stolen from me. I can feel him in my head but can do nothing about it, he continues walking, moving towards a window, an instant of mental prodding and no matter how hard I fight I'm following him forward.

The dreary sight of Lavender town is what greets me, fog hangs heavy over the silent town, dark shapes move through the fog like shadows, near indiscernible from this height or through the thick soup the gathering of so many ghost Pokemon have created, dread that is entirely my own bleeds into my mind as I look down on the town. Cameron grins at me, I can practically feel his delight as the thoughts dawn, even if I were to have killed him and somehow taken Slowking down as well, how would I have escaped through that?

"Exactly," He says, hissing it into my ear as he lays an arm over my shoulder, steering me around to face the other prisoners, that explained why we couldn't escape though, not why we were here in the first place. Smiling, always smiling, the bastard turns his head so I can see his eyes,

"I have seen the future," His eyes light up as he speaks, taking on the eerie glow of psychic power as he seems to stare through me, "It is so grim Hiiro, so very grim, and I need people- strong people- to face it," the light fades as he looks me in the eyes.

"People like you, like Janine and her shinobi, I need you all!" He's near shouting by the end as he gestures wildly at the people around us. I look at him in a new light,

"The future is not set in stone," I reason, trying to get him to see that nothing was certain, he scowls unhappy.

"Of course you would say that," taking his arm away from my shoulder he begins to pace, still frozen in place I can do nothing but watch as he mutters,"They all say that at first, even Stacy, even she-," I get the feeling he didn't mean to say that as his eyes look sharply at me,"Everyone will come around eventually, you'll see, if not, well," Here he looks to the group of mindless people I'd seen earlier, I harden my resolve, and I know he knows I won't follow him, I won't obey a mad man.

"I think it's time for an object lesson!" Shouting that with an air of finality people flinch away, trying to hide themselves further as his gaze sweeps across the crowd of mostly cowering prisoners. Some stare at him in defiance, them he grins at knowingly, his eyes seem to light up as they land on a man using his body to shield his young son. Psychic energy surrounds them as Slowking reacts to a wordless command, bringing them both before us, forced to kneel at our feet. It makes me me sick with anger, the little boy cries silently as I stare down at him and his father.

"Now then!" He says with a clap of his hands, moving to stand behind the pair, looking me in the eyes he holds up two fingers gesturing towards the man and boy as he does so.

"Two choices Hiiro, do you beat the man of your own free will, sparing the boy any harm," Here he grins leaning across the two as if to share with me a secret, his voice sharp as he states choice number two, as defiance flares in my heart and in my mind, I would do nothing he told me to, or so I thought,

"Or do you not beat the man, and I force you to beat the boy instead?" I sneer at his so called choices, the man pleads to me with his eyes as I look at him, silent tears streaming down his face as Cameron waits for my answer.

I do what I think anyone would do in the same circumstance, people look on somberly as my fist drives into the mans face knocking his head to the side, I'd held back as much as could be believable, trying to spare the man as much as possible, a glance at the psychotic psychic tells me my mistake, his eyebrow is raised, a knowing smile on his face.

"That wasn't part of the choice," Without warning I lose control of my body, my right hand comes up like a whip backhanding the boy hard enough one of his teeth comes out, the boy cries from his place on the floor holding his already swelling face, his father straining so hard against the control trying to get to his son a blood vessel bursts in his left eye.

I can move on my own again, dark thoughts pass through my mind, of all the dozens of ways I can kill a man, of the things I would do to him if I could. As my eyes find Cameron's, he just smiles that sickening smile, and I can hear in my head, "Do it right!"

I grunt, fury bleeding through every part of me as I step over to the crying man staring at his son unable to move, our eyes meet and I think I see acceptance there before I slam a fist into his cheek hard enough he spits teeth.

"Again!" Cameron crows, I oblige, having already learned the price for my defiance I beat the man senseless, working him over to the full extent of my ability, a half dozen more blows fall before he calls the stop, sick with hatred and near blind with rage I turn to the man, no, the monster who is pulling all of our strings, and he's clapping delightedly as if he'd won a game.

"Bravo Hiiro, Bravo! A bit slow there at the start, but not bad overall, there's hope for you yet," He leers at me across the still crying form of the young boy, "I think you get the idea of what happens when you don't do what you're told now, hmm?"

I say nothing, letting my thoughts speak for me. I know he's looking, I can feel him rooting around, I bare my teeth at him breathing hard as psychic energy surrounds us three prisoners and returns us to our restraints.

I sink back against the tombstone I'm bound to as the psychic bastard and his Pokemon turn to leave, waving over his shoulder as he goes, "Same time tomorrow good for you?" I spit, rubbing the blood from my knuckles, trying to sooth the ache, I don't look up from my hands for several seconds, not until the pounding in my head completely stops and I know he's far enough away.

"Thank you," I flinch as I hear the words, eyes flicking up away from my bruised knuckles to stare at the man I'd beaten.

Only scant minutes had passed since we'd all been left alone, and I was being thanked for beating a man, by the man I'd beaten. I felt sick, my eyes flicker around taking in the sad state of the people around me. How many of them had been in the same place I was just in? How many had to make the same or similar choices? Looking about, seeing how beaten down they all are, and how much understanding there is in their faces, I decide the answer is too many, far too many.

The man, who I realize I don't even know the name of is still watching me, hugging his still weeping son protectively to his chest. I'm at a loss for how to respond, the words catch in my throat and I can say nothing, mouth opening then closing as I search for the words, there was nothing, nothing I could say to make things better, to make things right. Finally I simply nod mind blank, still stunned at what was happening, the situation was too much all at once and I find myself floundering for options, like a fish out of water I was suffocating.

"Breathe," I jump as a soft, cool hand is lain on my arm, the word spoken soothingly and I realize I'd been beginning to panic, a flash of shame goes through me and I tamp it down, burying it beneath cold anger and hatred, making myself focus on my heart beat, focus on what I could control as I clench my hands to relax, minutes pass, a low murmur overtakes the room as people talk among themselves, too far away from them to pick up their whispered conversations I look to the only person close enough to talk with without having to half shout.

"Better?" Janine asks, as I'm finally calm enough to look at her, I nod, not feeling much like talking, it still felt like someone was sitting on my chest, but I made myself focus passed that and think. She frowns a little, I think at my silence but I'm unsure, picking slightly at the hem of her shirt she seems to think before looking at me again, a question in her eyes and on her lips.

"He," The word is spoken with such vitriol that it makes me draw back slightly, "He said you were looking for me?"

I nod, and seeing her frown I grunt, "Yes,"

"Why?" A fair question, "Did my father send you?" A hint of something like hope sneaks into her voice and I see the eyes of some people around the room look up at her tone. She was sharp, how she made that leap of logic I'm not entirely sure but I nod none the less and am stunned when she smiles, the action lighting up her face.

"I knew it, I knew he wouldn't abandon us!" She's practically shouting at the end, making me wince at her volume and the number of people who look at us, not a small number of them being what I think are her people, for the first time I note that very few people appear to be with anyone they know, the groups mixed up, likely to make any planning slower, though, I can't see how that would matter when our captor could, literally, look into our heads and pick the thoughts right out.

"When is he coming?" Grabbing onto my arm she asks a hard question, how do I say that I don't think he is? That I'm it for reinforcements, I think something must have shown on my face, because she draws back, face falling into something dangerously close to despair.

"He's not coming?" She asks, I grunt, unsure of what to say, distraught women are not one of my strong points, I can hear her mumbling to herself about protocol but she seems to be disbelieving, I guess all children want to think that when they're in trouble their parent will come and rescue them. Fumbling for something to say I say the first thing that comes to mind.

"How were you all taken?" I ask, and her eyes snap to me before going distant.

"We were taken in the day," Her voice comes out raspy, rough, as if the memory hurt her. "We were just bedding down, traps were all set up when one of the vanguard comes into camp, alerting us that people are coming,"

She looks at me, a bitter smile playing across her lips, "I was so happy, so excited," Practically spitting the last word as she hisses it she wrings her hands ans she continues "Everything went wrong so fast, he forced us to recall our Pokemon and remove our weapons, having us kneel as his men went around and rounded everything up, I didn't know what was happening, I was the leader and I could do nothing," She looks lost as she talks, staring out across the room as if looking for the answer in the air,

"Do you know what that's like, to be responsible for so many people and simply be unable to do anything? It was, is, crushing." Words flee her then, and I can say nothing, I could guess the rest, they woke up here and then they realized just how screwed they really were.

"What about them?" I ask, gesturing at the other people, the ones that are obviously not her shinobi, the ones more beaten down, dirtier. She shrugs, tired, shoulders bowed inward.

"They were here when we woke up, survivors of this," I took it that by this she meant more than this imprisonment, whatever this was, it was still nothing compared to the way the world was screwed.

The sound of footsteps make me jerk, head whipping towards the stairs, I had felt nothing like before, like I had expected to feel, no psychic presence at all. I look to Janine in question and find that her eyes, like mine, were riveted to the stairs, a snarl on her face that would have looked at home on Bic, never mind on her. I find the look mirrored by many of the others throughout the room, it's nothing like when Cameron came up, there was a sense of hopelessness then, of inevitability, but now?

Many of the men bear up, making themselves as big as they can from a seated position, snarling as a group of men carrying food stuffs round the corner of the stairs. I look on confused as they hand out food, unsure of the situation, and then I see one of their faces as he is passing food to one of the captured women, the look on his face and in his eyes, as he leers at her, looks at her as if she was less than human, like she was a piece of meat for him to take, the look makes me, someone it's not even directed at feel dirty, and I feel my lips pull back as I bare my teeth and reach instinctively to my belt where my sword should be.

I shift onto my knees for better mobility within my bindings as the one I've been watching comes towards where Janine and I are tethered. I watch him, not uttering a single word as he walks over to us, passing food to a stoic Janine, the snarl from when she first heard them coming replaced by cold stoicism.

I hear a muffled female scream on the far side of the room, beyond my sight, and an angry yell cut off into a pained grunt, as someone laughs, my eyes never leave the man before me as he runs a hand through Janine's hair, smells it, I snarl.

"Oho, new boys got some fight in him!" He says, laughing as he leans in closer to her, watching me from the corner of his eye, to see how I'd react, he chuckles, his tongue sliding slowly out of his mouth as his face is next to her cheek and something in me snaps, the day catching up to me, I strike, snarling like an animal I spin, putting my weight into the strike I use the leverage provided by the tethers around my wrist to whip around, turning the momentum into force as my straight kick shatters the bastards nose sending him reeling back clutching at his face, screaming as blood showers the floor from behind his hands.

I go to the ground on my back as the force of my kick whips me to the end of my tether and slams me to the ground, but I grin as everything in the room stops, many pairs of shocked eyes turning to stare at me. The feeders, as I've taken to calling them, look stunned, as if they honestly hadn't expected it, and the other prisoners look at me, at once happy, amazed, and horrified. I can't help it, I laugh, liquid fury in my veins as they advance on my form in mass, my only regret that I didn't have the angle to break his neck.

I bite and kick, tearing at their legs with my teeth, snarling the whole time I'm thrashing, they try and hold me, the one whose nose I broke coming to the fore, he's yelling something at me but I can't make it out, there's too much noise, too much going on as I struggle, blows raining down from many different hands. I'd like to say I gave as good as I got, but that would be a lie, they beat me into the floor of the tower, leave me bleeding as people scream and cry all around us, the feeders laughing as they get into it, and finally I go into blissful oblivion as a booted foot bashes me in the face.


	6. Chapter 6

Disclaimer:No seriously guys! I really don't own pokemon.

An: Alright, here we are again! Not a lot to say this time other than: Sorry it took so long, life, you know how it goes. Anyway, thanks again to Agent of Chaos 112 for his awesome Beta work, his story Poké Wars: The Remembrance kicks ass. I recommend giving it a look if you have not already. So, without further ado, enjoy and let me know what you think.

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><p>September 11<p>

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><p>The fact that I can feel someone's breath against my face is the first thought that greets me as I drag myself once more from the murky sea of unconsciousness. It hurts to move, hurts to even breathe, simply opening my one eye that isn't swollen shut is an effort of will, but I persevere. The thought of the bastard whose nose I broken making me try to grin, but flinch in pain at the attempt of stretching my face. Thoughts of what I'd have like to done to him passes through my mind like poison, making me shiver from the pure black hatred of it all, and the knowledge that I'd likely have enjoyed every moment of it.<p>

Shaking off the thoughts I look up, and in the pale light of the moon I can make out Janine's face. She's sleeping almost peacefully with my head resting in her lap, she's leaning over my beaten form hugging my head tightly to her stomach as she sleeps, her breath plays across my face with her every exhale. For a moment my own breath is caught in my throat and all I can do is look. I think to sit up but my ribs protest the blatant audacity of the idea with sharp bursts of exquisite, life affirming pain.

Grunting softly, I let my head lay back as gently as I can, feeling the warmth of her body against my face, I lay still listening to the sounds of the people around me snoring, breathing softly, and all the time my one eye remains fixed on Janine's face, fascinated with how tranquil is seems, how much younger she looks without the worries of the waking world weighing her down. I can't turn my head, can't sit up I find myself at peace with the situation. Still, I won a small measure of revenge and was beat ten times over for it, the dark thoughts bleed into my mind chasing away the peace as a heavy feeling settles in my chest.

Thoughts race through my mind, each one barely forming before another takes its place, creating a cacophony of worry and stress. How the hell am I supposed to help these people, how the hell am I supposed to do what Koga asked of me? I can't even help myself, or my Pokemon. I clench my teeth and squeeze my eyes shut tight, ignoring the pain as my gut clenches in helpless anger. My Pokemon who put faith in me, who always support me, it makes me sick to think about and I lay there wallowing in it, letting the same dark thoughts run on a loop through my mind.

Across the room I hear whimpering in the dark as a child suffered through a nightmare, and then the soft, brittle words of a mother comforting her child and I feel shame.

"I'm pathetic," I whisper harshly, surprising myself with the vitriol in my voice. I've only been here one day, one damned day. I push the helplessness away and grab hold of all of the dark thoughts that have been running through my mind. The sick, the vile, everything that has been building since this all started, and wrap them around myself like armor, letting it harden me against the world. It makes me feel cold all over, except in my stomach where a fire burns so hot I fear one day it could burn me from the inside.

These people deserve better than this. They deserve to be free, to decide for themselves, to live and to die on their own terms and I could only think of one way we could get that. I would have to seize it. They want to treat us like animals? I'll show them a fucking animal.

Putrid black thoughts in my head, I stare up into Janine's sleeping face, and let myself relax, listening to her breathing, feeling it on my face, hearing her heartbeat and taking comfort in the warmth of another person I slowly drift to sleep.

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><p>I wake up feeling as if I hadn't rested at all. My rest had been sporadic, my emotions in such turmoil I could not hope to relax, let alone sleep. Still, there is no slow waking for me this time. I hear Janine hissing sharply at me to wake up, her rough shaking bringing aches to my many bruises. It's sometime midday and I can hear people murmuring around us as I try to move.<p>

I grunt at Janine to help me sit up, I move my stiff body slowly to minimize pain. I'm not sure what the problem is at first as I rake my eyes across the room trying to assess the situation, people stare back with expressions I don't recognize. Then I hear footsteps and know what has them all so worked up. I spit without thinking at the sudden bad taste in my mouth and my eye narrows to a glare as the feeders appear from the stairs, no psychic presence, no Pokemon, but monsters all the same.

Though, something doesn't seem quite right. I cock my head slightly to the side in thought as I study them, just as Lu' would. Something not quite right in the way they hold themselves, they move around almost woodenly, skittish, giving Janine and I a wide berth almost as if they're afraid to be near us. Something has happened since the last time I saw them. I sneer, something took the swagger out of them, and for a moment I entertain the thought that it may have been me, though I abandon the idea quickly, I couldn't possibly be the first person to fight back. No, this reeks of punishment, my eye scans the room, searching the faces of each of the guards looking for one in particular but I don't find him. The one whose nose I had broken isn't present. And though I should know better, I just can't keep my mouth shut.

"Your friend," Two words -not even a full sentence- and a cascade of reactions ripple throughout the room. Janine startles next to me, the feeders eyes narrow as they turn baleful glares at my kneeling form. People all around flinch and fold in on themselves at the unexpected noise. They turn to look at me with wide eyes, some looking at me as if I'd gone mad, others give me sorrowful pitying looks. They've seen it all play out before, but the children still look at me in awestruck wonder as if speaking out was some amazing feat. It made my gut twist in fury and the newly twisted parts of my mind started to dictate my actions as I turn my nose up at the feeders, looking down my nose at them through one good eye.

"How's his nose?" Three words and you'd think a gun had went off, as everyone freezes, if people had been surprised before now they were practically struck dumb. Hearing a horrified gasp, I risk a side wards glance at Janine, who stares back, a stupefied almost horrified look on her face, eyes as wide as dinner plates. I can't help the snort, a coarse sound coming from my abused nose that makes me flinch and then I laugh again in earnest at the pain I can't bring myself to care about.

"What did you say?" I let out a softer chuckle of laughter at his question, at his tone, at the sheer rage on his face. Despite all warnings, I keep riding high on the unfamiliar feeling in my gut.

"That's unfortunate," I bait, waiting for the look, you know the one, the look that just screams 'What?' And when he makes it, I hook. "Looking as stupid as you do, and being deaf on top of it must be rough." I grin, as people look at me the way you might look at a fresh corpse. I knew I wouldn't get out of here unscathed but they wouldn't kill me. Something convinced me of that, a clenching in my gut, a pull at the back of my mind, something intangible. I was gambling my life on it.

Snarling in rage, spittle flying from between his clenched teeth the man advances on me. Janine begins to stir next to me, shuffling into a position I recognize from when I myself assumed it- a position that would allow her maximum force and leverage- but I pay her no mind as people gasp and look at me knowingly, almost expectantly. They'd seen this before too, someone stepping across the line, and I ignore them as well. I stare the enraged man down as he advances, an infuriating little smirk pulling at my busted lip as I force myself to not tense up and stay relaxed. He stops in front in me, close enough I could see his bloodshot eyes, each twitching as if the nerves weren't quite sure what to do. I recognized the symptoms, the same I saw in the people around me: signs of psychic abuse.

He makes a decision and as he raises a fist to strike, my mind picks him apart. 'Sloppy' my thoughts tells me, with his feet too far apart, his muscles too tensed, his wrist curled too much, and his elbow raised too high alongside a dozen other little things that pass through my mind in the instant it takes for me to lean my head back and present him with a better target, daring him to hit me, asking for it with my entire being, with everything short of words and then a hand is holding his arm and pulling him back. I laugh in relief, letting the sound flow out as a derisive chuckle and slowly, ever so slowly I relax my gamble proven right, they wouldn't touch me.

The next few moments are a flurry of harshly whispered words amongst the huddled feeders, all of which I'm sure they don't intend for any of us to hear.

"Leave him for Cameron, remember what happened to Brett?" The one who kept me from being struck says, among various other things. I'm assuming Brett is the one I kicked, not that I needed their names, they're less than people in my mind, I feel like that should bother me but it doesn't. I know I could snuff these monsters out with no more guilt than I'd feel snuffing out a candle.

They threaten me of course, promise to cause me unimaginable pain, describing what they'd do to me in pitifully unimaginative detail, among other such cliches. I pay them no mind, staring them down quietly with a small, secretive smile on my face until I see beads of cold sweat form on their brows. Eventually they leave, and I turn my thoughts inward as I eat my meager meal in silence, staring at the plate as I mechanically take one bite and then another. I can feel people watching me as I chew each bite meticulously, finally the stares become too much and I look up.

"What?" I ask, my voice carrying easily across the quiet room, almost everyone is staring at me. I stare back at each person in turn, locking eyes with as many individuals as possible. They look at me like they're seeing something miraculous, like I'm something they've never seen before, something strange, something new, like hope. I'm none of those things, but I'm trying.

I look at Janine when no response is forthcoming from them, she's giving me a look not unlike the rest, and I can't help but ask again my voice almost incredulous, "What?"

"Are you out of your mind?!" She half shouts, half asks. My voice seeming to free her from whatever restraints my previous actions had held her with, bound hands smack my shoulder, leading me to sway in place and look at her wide eyed, not entirely sure how to react. The room mutters in agreement, the dam broken similar questions pour in from all around me, their tone curious but there is anger there.

"I had it under control." I say, while looking Janine in the eye and schooling my features. I hear someone snort, then laugh half hysterically.

"'Under control' he says, you're out of your mind." This and other similar comments are uttered at my words, people quickly deciding I must be addled in the head. I can understand their points, I did just get my ass beat into the ground and I'm still bound to a headstone, what sane person would fight back right after that? Yet putting a leash on me hasn't broken my teeth.

Janine is not the only one not looking at me like I'm insane, some of the others I've identified as shinobi keep their silence and watch me, a contemplative look in their eyes. They probably think I have some sort of plan. I wish that were the case.

"What would you have done if they'd targeted someone else to punish you?" I grimace as the words ring out through the room, my eyes track and find the origins of the voice. An old man, late fifties, thinning gray hair over a serious face and sharp bright blue eyes the color of the sky that currently scrutinize me, at first glance just another prisoner with nothing special about him. But as I look closer, old scars litter a body entirely too well toned for someone that didn't spend their youth doing some form of strenuous work, some form of laborer? I discount that. No, the way he holds himself is wrong, shoulders squared, jaw up. Military, or something similar.

"Well?" He prompts, I zoned out slightly and grunt as he asks again. Not entirely sure how to answer. What would I have done? I look to Janine thinking of how I'd reacted to the feeder, Brett touching her. I can only help those I can reach.

"I don't know what I'd do," I admit, people snort derisively, cursing me for not thinking my actions through. I frown, more than I already am and try and put my thoughts into words.

"I know that we can't let them treat us like animals, like something to be used up. We are more than that!" I speak calmly at first as the words flow out of me, but by the end I'm practically snarling, My teeth bared for the world to see.

"Do you think you're the first to resist?" The words are spoken so softly I almost don't hear them. I look over at Janine, watch her from the corner of my eye. Her head is bowed, bangs shadowing her eyes and there's really only one thing I can say to that.

"No, of course not." My eyes flick for an instant to look at the group of insensate bodies, before looking back at her, I can't bring myself to call them people. There is no spark in their eyes. Her head snaps up and our eyes meet.

"Then, why?" Her voice is sharp, nearly a growl. A few weeks ago I would have drawn back intimidated. Now I look back steadily, turning to fully face her and speak the words that have been festering in me.

"Because even if it breaks or kills us we can't stop fighting. When we do, they've won and anything that was good about us will be gone. We'll be little more than puppets and they'll use us to hurt anyone that pleases them, and I'd rather die fighting than live enslaved." I'm snarling by the end, lips pulled back showing off rows of teeth, causing everyone to draw back from me. I must look quite mad, but it's far too late to worry about that. Janine is frozen, her eyes open wide like a stantler caught in headlights, she says nothing, my eyes trace across the room, everyone is quiet, somber. I sigh and slump feeling suddenly exhausted.

Minutes pass and the silence only grows heavier, until it grows deafening. Janine's head is hanging down, and judging by the sharp crease in her brow she is in deep thought. The rest of them are no better, I can't help but grimace at the pallid look adorning their faces. I can't stand it, and I seek out the old man from before.

"What's your name?" I struggle not to snort. Honestly, these people are entirely too jumpy. I understand why but you'd think I'd struck them all by how they flinch at my words. Still the old man looks at me pointing at himself in the universal sign for 'Who, me?' I nod, trying to get my face to work itself into a friendly grin. Judging by some of the looks I get I don't think it worked.

He gives his name as Ethan Sage and asks me why it matters. He looks perplexed, a lot of people do, I can't blame them. The atmosphere doesn't really lend itself to this sort of conversation but I soldier on regardless.

"Just making conversation, I'm Hiiro. What did you do before all of this?" Arceus that sounds awkward, I've never been the strongest speaker. Preferring to sit on the fringe of other peoples conversations and interject only rarely. Still I soldier on and people are now looking at me like I have two heads, but it's better than the despondent look that had been in their eyes, I glance for a second at Janine and she's giving me a look I can't read. I do my best to give her a reassuring smile before turning back to Ethan.

"I was retired," He says shortly. Well, that's sort of what I expected but the old man was leaving me hanging. When he doesn't seem eager to be more forthcoming I push the conversation forward, I need these people to keep talking, to remember who they are. That was step one, I'm still working on step two, since 'kill everyone that isn't us' probably wasn't good enough.

The old man was more interesting than I'd thought. I was expecting a retiree from the last war, I wasn't expecting him to have been a Pokemon Ranger. The story of what forced his retirement was good too, something to do with a Dragonite a cliff and him trying to impress his future wife. People were just starting to get drawn out of their shells when he'd gone quiet at the mention of her, staring off into space unblinking. It didn't take a genius to guess that she had probably died during the cataclysm that had started all this madness.

I left him to his thoughts, what else could I do really? Moving onto the next person, and then the next, doing my best to ease the somber mood away, to get some life back into them. Their mixed backgrounds legitimately amaze me. From housewife to trash man to Porygon engineer and everything in between. People are just starting to relax and I even got one of the little boys to laugh at a bad joke when we feel it, a sharp spike of watchfulness and pressure behind our eyes, everyone goes silent all at once, it's eerie how quickly the spark flees their eyes as the feeling of psychic pressure builds.

We feel him long before we ever hear his footsteps. I hadn't been coherent enough the first time I'd felt this to do it, but now I take careful note of exactly how long it is between feeling the psychic presence and hearing his footsteps on the stairs. It wasn't much, but if being able to even roughly estimate the range of his abilities could give me an edge, I'd take it.

"Well aren't we all just cheerful!" He crows as he comes off the stair, he claps his hands together and his presence spikes in my mind for an instant, my vision swims from the sudden vertigo but the icy spikes of power don't seem to me as sharp today as they did before. Still, people shy away from him as he walks among them, his hands held palms out and open at his sides as if he were walking in a field of flowers. The glow of psychic energies is ever prevalent in his eyes and his silent slowking is at his back, ready to answer to his every whim. A single pokeball floats between them held tightly shut by a corona of psychic power as they meander through the room, slowly, ever so slowly getting closer to where I sit leaning against a tombstone. I never take my eyes off of Cameron, I watch him the same way a Pidgeot watches a magikarp, looking for an opening to strike.

It seems to take ages for him to reach Janine and I, he spares her a short mocking bow before turning the full weight of his notice onto me. Then, I'm drowning, unable to breath, panic sets in, unnatural rage tears through my mind, sorrow unlike any I'd ever felt before, one after the other I'm assaulted by emotions out of my control and without reason. For what feels like an eternity I'm assaulted by my own wild emotions and then they stop, leaving me a gasping wretched mess on the floor. Rage that is entirely mine cements itself in my mind and I turn furious eyes on Cameron.

"Your aura is looking a little dim, are you feeling unwell, Hiiro? Well, don't die on me just yet." His words are as mocking as the tilt of his lips or the look in his eyes. 'I own you~' The thought sings through my mind and I shudder, pulling deeper into myself drawing my hatred around myself like a cloak letting it warm me as I feel suddenly cold.

"Oh, are we cold Hiiro?" He asks with mock concern while all the time smiling that infuriating smile.

"I actually have just the thing to warm you up! Don't I Slowking?" Not waiting for his pokemon to reply, Cameron floats the pokeball before my eyes. I draw in a sharp, ragged breath as I recognize the rough engraving on the side. Three letters that make my blood run cold.

"Bic," I read the name breathlessly, feeling like I'd been punched in the gut. I look quickly between the ball and Cameron unsure what his intentions were, he grins that same mad grin and let his energies stop, and the ball falls to bounce against the floor before me, I watch it fall almost in slow motion and with a snap/hiss the smell of carnage and fire permeates the room. Bic doesn't hesitate, doesn't even stop to think as he is freed from the ball, his eyes snap to Cameron and his pokemon and fire builds in his jaws so fast and hot the wave of heat raises blisters on the backs of my hands. But before he can release his the flames, Slowking has him snared, energy holding his form still and slowly the flames die in his maw. I feel the cold anticipation in my gut die with it.

Cameron laughs delighted as he walks around Bic's bound form trying to pet him, and I smile vindictively as he jerks his hand back from Bic's head and looks at his scorched finger tips. If the burns bothered him he hid it well, only grinning wider as he looks at his blistered fingers. Minutes pass and the tension only seems to grow, I wonder idly how much of the tension is actually my own and how much was manufactured by the monster before me. As I have the thought I feel pressure in my mind and a spike of pain as Cameron turns sharply to look at me with a sinister smile.

"I'm a monster am I? What does that make you, who loves a monster that would have gladly burned everyone in this room alive to kill me?" I don't bother responding to his feverishly asked words, simply staring back levelly. He laughs airily, waving his hand as if to say 'of course.'

"Disobedience must be punished. Brett learned the hard way, he was too far gone, but you Hiiro, I have high hopes for you and Bic here. You see, He'd never harm you; burn all of the people in this room to ash," He smiles coldly, "Most definitely, but never harm you," a pause. "Not intentionally at least and that's why this is punishment for him. You need to learn that obedience is rewarded, resistance is punished." I grit my teeth and try to speak but I can't work my jaw, can't even make a sound in my throat.

"So, once again an object lesson." The room freezes as his intentions become clear. "Do you Hiiro, smother the flame on the tip of dear Bic's tail or do we let him turn these people to ash?" As he finishes his ultimatum a group of people are separated from the others, I can feel bile rise in my throat as I realize it's mostly children, their faces streaked with tears as they look at Bic and me in terror.

"Now, choose!" Flames build in Bic's mouth slowly as he is turned to face away from me, I can see the strain in his eyes as he struggles against the control, Slowking sweats slightly from the effort of holding him. My breathing quickens, heart begins beating a frantic pattern in my chest as Bic's tail is presented to me. I can't look away from Cameron's intended victims and just as Bic is opening his mouth fully to let loose sulfurous death I decide.

"Damn it!" I yell, tears streaming down my face from the pain and the helpless agony of my hands clasping around Bic's tail tightly. The flames in his mouth sputter and die as he stumbles to his knees, the fight fleeing him as I all but kill him. I clutch what for all intents and purposes is his life, and I smother and crush it. All the time Cameron laughs, people look on and cry, mothers hugging the children I'd saved as if they'd never let them go but I could feel no happiness as I crush the life out of my oldest friend.

I won't beg, I won't. The thought plays through my head, over and over it cycles through my mind, as I close out the pain from the fire and the agony of watching Bic slowly die, his flame being snuffed out a little at a time, gritting my teeth I refuse to beg, this wouldn't break me, I'm going to butcher every last one of you, rip and tear you all to pieces and then set you ablaze in Bic's memory, you hear me Cameron, you won't break me!

"I think that's enough for now," He says, my hands are ripped away from Bic's flame by psychic energy and I sag, sobbing in relief. I can't put into words how relieved I am to see the small flame at the tip of Bic's tail, he was laying on his side, too weak to move but he was alive and I was boundlessly thankful for that.

"Remember Hiiro," 'I own you~' he returns Bic to his ball and they leave, Cameron calling over his shoulder as he descends the stairs, "Same time tomorrow?' I collapse exhausted to the floor, barely coherent. Everyone is too stunned to speak.


End file.
